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Conference 


New  York,  JANUARY  \  \ 


*§• 


PRELIMINARY 


Ecumenical  Conference 

_  _  - . ^^i****^**™” 

on  Foreign  Missions 

Bpril  2l— flDa?  l 
1900 

WILLETTS  PRESS 

NEW  YORK 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


i 


( • 


K 


https://archive.org/details/alldaymeetingforOOecum 


\ 


PURPOSE  OF  THIS  REPORT* 


On  Jan.  11  the  friends  of  the  Ecumenical  Conference  on 
Foreign  Missions  held  an  all-day  meeting  in  New  York  to 
take  counsel  of  one  another  as  to  its  truest  aims  and  the 
impression  most  to  be  sought  for  from  such  a  conference. 
The  forenoon,  without  previous  design  on  the  part  of  any¬ 
one,  was  entirely  devotional.  The  afternoon  was  more 
largely  given  to  an  interchange  of  views  and  suggestions 
as  to  the  ways  to  secure  the  best  results.  In  the  evening  a 
public  meeting  was  held,  with  a  large  number  of  invited 
guests  present  from  the  churches  of  New  York  and  vicinity, 
addressed  by  eminent  speakers.  The  effect  of  the  day’s  meet¬ 
ings  was  such  that  the  Executive  Committee  deems  it  wise 
to  ask  the  friends  of  Missions,  as  generally  as  possible,  to 
hold  similar  all-day  meetings  in  other  places,  in  which  all 
the  churches  should  cooperate.  This  is  asked  not  merely 
to  awaken  wider  interest,  but  as  a  part  of  the  whole  move¬ 
ment  which  the  conference  represents. 

It  is  supposed  that  all  who  have  been  delegated  as  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  conference  will  especially  feel  their  share  in  the 
responsibility  for  its  success,  not  only  during  the  days  of 
the  conference,  but  in  what  precedes  and  follows.  For, 
great  as  the  occasion  may  be,  it  must  be  regarded  as  an 
essential  part  of  a  larger  movement,  to  which  it  gives  im¬ 
pulse  and  direction. 

It  is  with  this  in  view  that  the  committee  solicits  your 
active  service  in  securing  all-day  meetings  in  your  city, 
through  a  committee  from  the  several  churches. 

All  that  was  uttered  in  prayer  or  remark  was  without 
any  thought  at  the  time  to  its  publication.  It  has  been 
thought  advisable  to  let  the  record  of  the  meeting  go  out  at 
once  with  very  little  change,  hoping  that  its  vitality  will 
make  up  for  its  lack  in  literary  form;  so  that  those  who 
are  preparing  for,  or  writing  or  speaking  in  behalf  of,  the 
conference  may  get  into  the  center  of  its  spirit  and  purpose. 

Ecumenical  Conference  Committee, 

156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York, 


3 


MORNING  SESSION— ASSEMBLY  HALL. 


REV.  H.  N.  COBB,  D.  D.,  Chairman: 

It  is  proposed  to  spend  the  first  half  hour  or  so  in 
prayer  and  conference  in  respect  to  the  work  which  lies  be¬ 
fore  us,  in  regard  to  which  more  definite  statements  will  be 
made  later.  This  half  hour  or  more  is  for  simple  prayer, 
and  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  in  connection  with  it,  and  in 
preparation  for  it,  we  could  not  more  profitably  turn  our  at¬ 
tention  to  any  other  portion  of  Scripture  than  to  our  Lord’s 
high  priestly  prayer  recorded  for  us  in  the  17th  chapter  of 
the  Gospel  of  John. 

PRAYER. 

O  Lord,  our  Gracious  Saviour,  in  whose  name  we  gather 
here  this  morning,  and  whose  work  we  are  endeavoring  to 
do,  and  whose  presence  we  thus  desire,  and  on  the  blessing 
of  whose  Holy  Spirit  we  depend,  we  thank  Thee  with  glad 
and  grateful  hearts  for  this  Thy  supplication  which  Thou 
didst  offer,  when  Thou  wast  about  to  depart  from  earth,  for 
Thy  disciples  who  should  believe  on  Thee  through  their 
word.  We  rejoice  for  all  that  this  petition  contains  for  us 
all;  for  all  the  high  and  holy  thoughts,  purposes,  duties, 
privileges,  aspirations  and  hopes  which  it  presents  to  us. 
We  pray  that  we  may  take  hold  upon  something  in  it  this 
morning  which  shall  have  a  new  meaning  for  us,  and  which 
shall  fit  us  better  for  the  work  in  which  we  are  engaged. 
Give  us  a  deeper  sense  of  the  preciousness  of  that  life  eter¬ 
nal  of  which  no  sinner  on  earth  is  worthy,  but  which  every 
sinner  on  earth  may  find  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  the 
Father,  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son.  Help  us  to  feel  that 
we  are  sent  into  the  world  as  Thou  wast  sent,  for  the  ac¬ 
complishment  of  the  purpose  which  brought  Thee  hither. 
Help  us  to  feel  the  need  of  sanctification  through  the  truth, 
and  of  being  kept  by  the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto 
salvation.  Help  us  to  appreciate  the  privilege  of  carrying 
this  message  of  life  and  light  and  salvation  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  and  help  us,  O  Lord,  to  sympathize  more  and  more 
perfectly  with  Thee  in  th^  prayer  which  Thou  didst  offer, 
that  we  and  all  Thy  disciples  everywhere  may  have  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  not  only,  but  that  we  may  show  a  united 
front  to  the  forces  of  evil  with  which  it  is  necessary  to  con¬ 
tend  in  seeking  to  build  up  Thy  kingdom  in  the  world,  and 
that  we  may  so  prove  to  the  world  that  Thou  wast  sent  of 
the  Father,  and  that  we  have  indeed  received  Thee  into  our 
hearts,  and  that  Thy  Spirit  rules  and  reigns  within  us. 

Give  us  a  new  vision  of  the  glory  which  is  Thine  at  the 
right  hand  of  God  and  of  the  glory  Thou  art  getting  to  Thy¬ 
self  by  the  salvation  of  souls  through  Thy  precious  blood 
and  the  eternal  Spirit  of  our  God,  and  cheer  us  by  the  hope 
of  that  final  consummation,  when  we  and  all  the  multitude 
of  Thy  redeemed  out  of  every  kindred  and  nation  and  tribe 
and  tongue  shall  see  Thee  in  Thy  glory  as  Thou  art,  and 
shall  be  enabled  to  praise  and  serve  Thee  as  we  ought. 

4 


Be  with  us  in  this  hour  of  service  and  in  the  hours  that 
we  shall  spend  together.  Indite  our  thoughts  and  our 
words,  and  may  Thy  Spirit  rule  in  every  word  and  in  every 
thought,  for  Thine  own  Name’s  sake.  Amen. 

PRAYER: 

.  ,  i  ..... 

REV.  S.  L»  BALDWIN,  D.  D.: 

Our  Father,  we  continue  before  Thee  in  praise  and  sup¬ 
plication.  Our  hearts  are  full  of  praise  and  thanksgiving 
this  morning  as  we  consider  the  great  gathering  of  Thy  peo¬ 
ple  which  is  to  occur  by  and  by  in  this  city,  and  we  reflect 
how  much  there  is  to  give  thanks  to  Thee  for  connected 
with  that  gathering.  We  look  back  over  the  century  which 
is  soon  to  close  and  remember  that  at  its  beginning  there 
was  just  the  feeble  beginning  of  Protestant  missions  in  the 
world,  and  we  recall  with  joy  all  the  way  by  which  Thou 
hast  led  Thy  children  during  these  years  of  the  century,  so 
that  to-day,  in  all  the  great  lands  of  the  earth,  the  work  is 
firmly  rooted,  thousands  of  souls  are  being  converted, 
churches  are  being  built,  self-supporting  work  established  in 
many  regions,  and  many  thousands  of  joyous  souls  testify¬ 
ing  from  a  personal  experience  that  Jesus  hath  appeared  on 
earth  to  forgive  sins. 

We  rejoice  before  Thee  in  all  this  progress  of  Thy  work, 
and  we  rejoice  especially  that  Thy  Spirit  hath  been  so  great¬ 
ly  poured  out  within  these  late  years,  so  that  on  many  of 
the  mission  fields  there  are  wonderful  demonstrations  of  His 
presence  and  power — demonstrations  from  which  we  here  in 
the  church  at  home  may  learn  very  much  to  cheer  and  en¬ 
courage  our  hearts,  and  inspire  us  to  greater  diligence  and 
to  greater  nearness  to  Thee,  seeking  for  the  same  power  of 
Thy  Holy  Spirit  which  many  of  the  recent  converts  from 
heathenism  are  now  so  richly  enjoying. 

We  thank  Thee,  too,  for  the  great  progress  that  has  been 
made  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Thy  son  to  which  we  have 
just  listened  once  more — that  prayer  for  the  unity  of  His 
people.  We  thank  Thee  that  in  these  days  all  Christian 
hearts  are  coming  so  much  closer  to  each  other,  and  those 
things  which  were  once  magnified  in  denominational  pe¬ 
culiarities  are  disappearing,  and  we  realize  that  we  have  one 
great  work  to  do  for  God,  and  we  must  be  one  army  of  the 
living  God  in  prosecuting  it.  We  pray  Thee  that  these  evi¬ 
dent  tokens  of  Thy  presence  may  continue  and  may  increase 
with  greater  power,  and  especially  that  the  Ecumenical 
Conference  may  be  a  time  in  which  there  shall  be  great 
progress  in  these  directions,  in  which  all  hearts  shall  flow 
together,  and,  with  sanctified  common  sense,  Thy  people 
may  plan  together  to  do  His  work,  to  take  the  whole  world 
for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  take  it  speedily.  We  do 
thank  Thee  that  there  are  evidences  of  accelerated  power  in 
Thy  church  as  we  go  forward  into  this  work,  and  may  we 
be  enabled  to  come  within  the  range  of  this  blessed  prayer  of 

5 


our  Divine  Redeemer,  so  that  we  may  all  be  one  in  Him,  as 
He  is  one  in  Thee. 

Heavenly  Father,  guide  us  in  all  the  thoughts  and  in  all 
the  prayer  of  this  hour,  and  make  it  a  time  of  great  bless- 
ing  to  us  here,  and  a  time  of  great  blessing  in  preparation 
for  the  Conference  that  is  to  be.  We  ask  it  for  Jesus’  sake. 
Amen. 

PRAYER. 

REV.  O.  U.  WHITFORD,  D.  D.s 

We  thank  Thee,  gracious  Father,  for  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Saviour.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  great  salvation  that  He  has 
brought  to  men.  We  thank  Thee  for  what  He  is  to  us,  in 
wisdom,  in  joy,  in  strength,  in  love,  in  every-day  life,  and  in 
the  work  of  the  Gospel.  We  pray,  O  Lord,  that  Thou  wilt 
give  unto  us  a  deeper  interest  in  the  salvation  of  souls. 
Roll  upon  us  the  burden  of  souls  at  home  and  abroad;  we 
pray  that  Thou  wilt  bless  all  missionary  societies  that  are 
engaged  in  world-wide  evangelization.  Wilt  Thou  remem¬ 
ber  this  day  the  missionaries  of  the  Cross  in  the  foreign 
fields?  Bless  them  in  their  endeavors,  in  the  obstacles  that 
they  have  to  overcome.  Wilt  Thou  give  them  strength  and 
success?  Wilt  Thou  encourage  their  hearts  in  the  ingather¬ 
ing  of  many  souls  into  Thy  kingdom,  and  we  pray  that  Thou 
wilt  bind  all  these  societies  together  in  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  and  in  unity  of  earnestness  and  endeavor  to  capture 
the  world  for  Jesus  Christ.  Wilt  Thou  bless  the  coming 
Conference  as  its  members  shall  come  up  from  the  different 
fields  and  from  the  different  countries?  May  they  come  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Master,  in  the  love  of  the  wonderful  re¬ 
demption  which  Christ  hath  brought  to  men.  May  they 
come  together  in  unity  of  heart,  purpose  and  spirit,  and 
wilt  Thou  increase  the  interest  and  inspiration  of  that  meet¬ 
ing? 

Bless  this  preparatory  meeting  to-day.  Bless  all  of  our 
hearts.  Fill  our  hearts,  we  pray  Thee,  with  more  love  for 
Christ,  more  love  to  men,  more  love  for  the  world.  Take 
out  of  us  selfishness,  out  of  our  hearts  anything  that  will 
hinder  us  in  having  success  in  conquering  the  world  for 
Christ,  our  King  and  our  Lord.  Bless  all  the  preparations 
that  are  being  made.  Give  unto  us  wisdom  and  farsighted¬ 
ness,  so  that  everything  shall  be  done  that  shall  give  success 
and  a  glorious  result  to  the  coming  Conference.  We  ask  it 
all  in  Jesus’  name.  Amen. 

REV.  E.  M.  BLISS,  D.  D.s 

My  thoughts  have  gone  this  morning  to  the  many  who 
are  before  the  throne.  One  and  another  come  up  before  my 
mind,  and  I  cannot  but  feel  that,  as  we  gather  here  and  pray 
for  this  blessing,  as  we  plan  for  this  work,  we  have  the  co¬ 
working  of  that  great  multitude  of  witnesses  who  have  gone 
before  us,  where  they  are  seeing  so  much  clearer  than  we 
can  see,  knowing  as  we  know  not,  sharing  with  the  Master 

6 


the  blessing  of  the  completeness  of  the  work.  And  then 
that  Master!  For  the  last  few  days  my  thoughts  have  been 
turning  to  Paul’s  words  written  from  the  prison  at  Rome  to 
the  Philippians.  He  gathered  up  all  his  past  success  and 
counted  it  as  nothing  that  he  might  know  Christ  and  the 
power  of  His  resurrection  and  the  fellowship  of  His  suffer¬ 
ings — the  fellowship  that  should  bring  him  into  the  closest 
relations  with  those  for  whom  he  worked,  the  power  of  the 
resurrection  that  should  give  him  the  might  that  burst  the 
bands  of  death,  and  overcome  all  that  was  evil,  and  assured 
the  victory  of  faith!  Oh,  we  need  to  look  beyond,  to  feel 
that  we  are  working  not  in  any  strength  of  to-day,  not  in 
any  wisdom  of  the  moment,  but  that  we  have  the  strength 
of  the  Almighty  and  the  wisdom  of  God  if  we  will  open  our 
hearts  to  Him  that  we  may  receive. 

MR.  W.  H .  GRANT: 

There  is  one  thing  I  have  no  doubt  that  we  shall  all 
agree  on  with  respect  to  this  Conference,  and  that  is  what 
we  are  met  here  at  this  early  hour  for — that  we  want  God 
in  it;  we  want  His  illuminating  power  in  it;  we  want  His 
control  in  it.  We  have  evidence  that  He  is  in  it.  We  can¬ 
not  believe  that  such  a  Conference  can  be  brought  about  at 
all  without  having  God  in  it.  But  we  want  Him  in  it  in 
power.  We  want  a  demonstration  that  He  is  in  it.  We 
want  to  realize  among  ourselves  that  the  Conference  will  be 
a  total  failure  unless  God  is  in  it  in  fullness.  The  impres¬ 
sion  I  have  gotten  many  times  from  reading  the  first  Epistle 
of  John  was  just  that  thought— that  God  was  in  it,  and  that 
God  was  in  John.  God  had  been,  through  His  Son,  right  in 
the  midst  of  the  disciples.  They  had  felt  His  life  right  close 
to  them,  handled  it  with  their  hands,  seen  it  with  their  eyes, 
heard  it  with  their  ears.  It  was  a  great  reality  to  each  one 
of  them.  And  just  after  John  says  that,  he  makes  that  won¬ 
derful  declaration  that  God  is  light,  that  in  Him  is  no  dark¬ 
ness  at  all.  “If  we  say  we  have  fellowship  with  Him,  and 
walk  in  darkness,  we  do  not  the  truth,”  but  that  if  we  do 
walk  in  the  light  as  He  is  in  the  light,  “we  have  fellowship 
one  with  another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  us 
from  all  sin.”  That  takes  the  cloud  away  from  our  eyes  and 
off  our  hearts,  and  brings  us  close  together  in  holy  com¬ 
munion. 

Now,  I  think  that  we  want  to  make  this  the  central 
thought  of  our  prayers,  that  we  want  God  in  this  Confer¬ 
ence;  that  we  want  Him  to  manifest  Himself  all  through  it, 
so  that  it  may  be  full  of  life — full  of  spiritual  life  and 
power,  and  not  fall  flat  because  it  is  wholly  the  work  of 
man.  Those  of  us  who  have  been  most  interested  in  the  ar¬ 
rangements  feel  perfectly  helpless  in  the  matter  unless  the 
church  takes  it  up  and  prays  over  it,  and  we  have  sent  out  a 
letter  asking  the  church  to  pray  for  it.  We  have  sent  that 
letter  practically  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  calling  for  prayer 

7 


for  this  Conference.  We  have  sent  out  another  letter  to  the 
missionaries  all  over  the  world,  asking  them  to  enlist  the 
native  churches  in  prayer  for  this  Conference,  and  yet  we 
want  to  realize  what  we  have  for  them  to  do  right  here 
among  ourselves.  We  have  been  too  busy  with  details  to 
take  a  general  survey,  and  we  have  been  too  busy  to  have 
that  prayer,  that  holy  communion  one  with  another  and 
with  God  that  will  enable  us  to  make  it  the  kind  of  a  Con¬ 
ference  He  wants.  I  hope  that  the  others  here  will  take  up 
the  thought  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  this  Conference,  and  that 
each  from  his  own  experience,  each  from  his  own  stand¬ 
point,  shall  say  something,  shall  lead  in  prayer,  shall  help 
in  one  way  or  another,  so  that  we  may  be  enlivened  in  this 
place. 

PRAYER. 

REV.  J.  TAYLOR  HAMILTON,  D.  D.s 

O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour,  Thou  great  Head  of  the 
Church,  bestow  upon  each  one  of  us  here  present  Thy  bless¬ 
ing  this  morning,  this  very  hour.  Renew  in  our  hearts  the 
comfortable  assurance  that  we  are  Thine,  and  that  Thou 
dost  condescend  to  use  even  such  as  we  are  with  all  our 
frailties  and  defects  and  sins.  Cause  us  to  be  fully  per¬ 
suaded  that  Thy  will  is  manifested  toward  us  day  by  day,  as 
Thou  dost  lead  and  guide  us  in  the  details  of  the  ordinary 
duties  Thou  hast  imposed  upon  us.  May  the  joy  of  the  Lord 
be  our  strength,  personally  and  individually,  and  as  we  are 
now  met  to  confer  together.  Help  us  to  see  back  of  business 
details  which  concern  this  Conference,  to  see  behind  all 
those  duties  which  rest  upon  us  in  connection  with  the 
spread  of  Thy  kingdom  at  home  and  abroad,  not  dead  facts, 
but  Thine  own  presence,  urging  us  on,  giving  us  wisdom 
that  is  not  our  own,  and  pledging  ultimate  success  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  Thy  promise,  “All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in 
heaven  and  earth,  and  lo!  I  am  with  you  always.”  Give  us 
faith  to  believe  in  this  success  and  in  Thy  divine  overruling, 
even  where  we  seem  to  fail,  and  so  help  us  to  place  ourselves 
in  Thy  hands  in  connection  with  this  movement  for  which 
we  are  planning.  So  enable  all  who  have  an  interest  in  the 
coming  of  Thine  own  great  person  and  sovereignty  and 
power  that  wherever  they  are  stationed,  in  isolated  places, 
often  laboring  amid  discouragement  and  difficulty,  Thy 
felt  presence  in  the  Spirit  may  encourage  them.  Pour  out 
upon  Thy  waiting  church  the  spirit  of  earnest  intercession 
that  is  moulded  and  guided  by  Thee.  We  do  not  know  what 
Thy  will  is  with  this  work  that  is  encouraging  our  thought 
and  sympathy.  Give  us  faith  to  believe  that  Thou  dost  in¬ 
tend  to  use  it  mightily  that  the  time  may  be  hastened  when 
Thy  will  shall  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  We 
would  lay  hold  of  Thy  promise  that  “if  any  man  lack  wis¬ 
dom,  he  may  ask  of  Thee,  who  giveth  to  all  men  liberally.” 
Bestow  upon  us  the  wisdom  that  we  need  for  this  and  for  all 
other  discussion.  We  would  feel  that  Thou  wilt  so  help  each 

8 


one  of  us  that  we  may  do  just  what  Thou  dost  require,  ac¬ 
complish  Thy  purpose,  and  at  last  be  received  into  Thy 
presence  where  there  is  fullness  of  joy.  Amen. 

REV.  WILSON  PHRASER,  D.  B.: 

Dear  Brethren:  I  am  for  one  very  much  impressed 
with  the  solemnity  of  this  hour  and  with  the  circumstances 
under  which  we  meet,  this  first  meeting  held  for  a  confer¬ 
ence  in  connection  with  the  Council  to  which  we  are  looking 
forward.  How  important  it  is  that  we  should  realize  the 
possibilities  of  that  Conference!  I  think  we  ought  to  antici¬ 
pate  and  look  forward  to  and  hope  and  expect  that  it  shall 
be  a  great  event  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  connection  es¬ 
pecially  with  God’s  work  in  the  world,  the  coming,  or  the 
bringing  in  of  His  kingdom.  The  Church  has  held  confer¬ 
ences  or  councils  in  the  centuries  that  are  past,  and  we  have 
had  one  or  two  in  recent  years  of  these  councils  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  and  they  have  been 
great  and  blessed  occasions ;  but,  dear  brethren,  shall  we  not 
rise  far  higher?  Have  we  not  a  right  to  look  for  and  expect 
something  far  more  to  come  out  of  this  Council  than  has 
come  out  of  any  Council  that  was  ever  held  in  the  history  of 
the  Church?  Nov/,  am  I  too  enthusiastic  when  I  express 
such  a  wish,  such  an  expectation,  such  a  hope?  Of  course, 
it  won’t  depend  upon  us.  We  have  recognized  the  fact  to¬ 
day.  Attention  has  been  called  to  our  dependence  upon  God, 
His  Holy  Spirit,  His  guidance  from  first  to  last,  and  oh,  how 
earnestly  my  heart  desires  that  God’s  Spirit  may  here,  at 
this  first  meeting,  manifest  itself  to  each  and  every  one. 
But  the  thought  of  responsibility  presses  upon  me  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  guidance  in  this  matter  and  the  waking  up 
of  the  Church  to  a  proper  expectation  and  appreciation  of 
what  we  are  looking  forward  to.  The  passage  was  read 
with  regard  to  the  unity  of  God’s  children.  Why,  I  hope  to 
see  in  this  Council  an  illustration  to  the  world  of  the  unity 
of  Christendom  such  as  has  never  been  given  in  any  of  the 
centuries  before.  We  have  had  blessed  meetings  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  Week  of  Prayer  here,  illustrating  the  unity  of 
God’s  people,  but  never  have  I  seen  hearts  flow  together  ap¬ 
parently  as  I  have  seen  in  connection  with  our  dear  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  Japan  or  in  Shanghai  or  in  Chefoo  or  elsewhere, 
the  brethren  coming  together  of  all  denominations  there, 
feeling  their  need  of  each  other’s  help,  and  their  hearts  flow¬ 
ing  together  in  their  intense  interest  in  their  work.  I  want 
to  see  that  on  an  enlarged  scale  in  connection  with  this 
great  Conference  before  us,  and  let  us  feel  the  responsibility 
resting  upon  us  in  this  meeting  as  the  beginning  of  that 
which  is  to  wake  up  within  the  Church,  because  God  works 
by  means;  and  throughout  the  Church  a  spirit  of  expecta¬ 
tion  of  great  things.  “Expect  great  things  from  God,  and 
undertake  great  things  for  God”  is  an  expression  with  which 
we  are  very  familiar.  It  is  a  very  proper  thought,  it  seems 

9 


to  me,  at  its  very  outset.  May  God,  from  first  to  last,  guide 
and  direct  that  the  results  of  this  Conference  shall  be 
blessev  unto  every  church  in  the  homeland,  bringing  a 
blessing  to  all  who  are  privileged  to  have  any  part,  and 
bringing  a  blessing  in  this  last  year  of  the  dying  century, 
bringing  a  blessing  such  as  the  Church  at  large  has  never 
known  in  connection  with  the  onward  movement  of  the  in¬ 
terests  of  our  blessed  Saviour’s  kingdom. 

REV.  A.  T.  PIERSON,  D.  D.: 

I  would  like  to  give  two  verses  from  a  passage  which 
has  made  more  impression  upon  my  mind  than  any  words 
within  the  compass  of  the  Scripture  in  connection  with  such 
meetings  as  this.  Matthew,  the  eighteenth  chapter,  nine¬ 
teenth  and  twentieth  verses:  “If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on 
earth  as  touching  any  thing  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be 
done  for  them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  For  where 
two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I 
in  the  midst  of  them.” 

The  double  thought  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is 
the  peculiar  meaning  of  the  word  “agree,”  and  the  force  of 
the  word  “for”  in  the  twentieth  verse.  The  word  agree,  in  the 
Greek,  as  you  will  all  remember,  is  “symphonize.”  It  does 
not  refer  to  an  agreement  which  we  make  among  ourselves, 
but  it  is  the  agreement  which  the  Spirit  causes  among  us. 

A  symphony  is  a  musical  chord.  It  depends  upon  two 
things — that  the  keys  of  an  instrument  shall  be  in  tune 
with  each  other,  and  that  they  shall  be  touched  by  a  master 
hand.  And  that  is  the  force  of  the  word  for.  “For  where 
two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I 
in  the  midst  of  them,”  producing  this  agreement,  this  sym¬ 
phony. 

It  is  a  marvellous  conception.  Most  of  us  have  been  ac¬ 
customed  to  think  of  this  as  an  artificial  agreement.  You 
say  to  me,  and  I  say  to  you,  “Let  us  pray  about  a  certain 
thing.”  That  is  an  artificial  agreement.  But  when  the 
Spirit  moves  on  you  and  on  me,  and  lays  his  hand  upon  us, 
as  you  lay  your  hand  upon  a  well-tuned  instrument,  the  keys 
are  brought  into  a  chord,  producing  a  symphony.  When 
Jesus  Christ  is  in  the  midst  of  us,  touches  your  mind  and 
some  one  else’s  heart  to  pray  for  the  same  thing,  there  is  a 
musical  symphony. 

In  years  agone,  I  do  not  think  anything  has  produced  a 
greater  effect  upon  me  in  connection  with  these  matters 
than  my  studies  of  the  eighteenth  century.  You  will  re¬ 
member  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
from  1700  to  1750,  there  was  a  most  awful  state  of  things, 
in  Great  Britain  and  in  America,  too,  in  the  churches. 
Deism  in  the  pulpits ;  sensuality  and  formality  and  secular-  , 
ism  in  the  pews,  until  Christian  men,  and  men  of  deep 
spirituality  said  that  religion  seemed  to  be  idle.  When  I 
went  into  the  Lincoln  College  in  Oxford,  and  stood  in  the 


io 


very  room  where  John  Wesley  and  the  Holy  Club  Men — 
Charles  Wesley,  George  Whitfield,  Mr.  Corcoran — met,  I  felt 
as  if  I  was  in  the  most  solemn  place  I  had  almost  ever 
touched  on  earth.  Out  of  those  conferences  between  a  few 
men  that  felt  the  awful  decay  of  religion  in  Great  Britain, 
and  out  of  Jonathan  Edwards’  prayers  in  Northampton  and 
the  appeal  in  1747  for  a  visible  union  of  believing  children 
of  God  all  over  the  world,  for  a  speedy  diffusion  of  the  Spirit 
on  the  whole  habitable  world,  you  see  nearly  contemporan¬ 
eous  from  1734  to  1744,  in  Northampton  and  Oxford,  a  John 
Wesley  there  and  a  Jonathan  Edwards  here — they  were  the 
fountains,  under  God,  of  the  revivals  of  the  last  half  of  the 
last  century.  Humanly  speaking,  they  were  the  fountains. 
They  were  the  channels  at  least  of  God’s  Spirit.  In  read¬ 
ing  in  Finney’s  life  about  his  wonderful  work  in  Western 
New  York,  he  attributes  it  to  two  men — not  to  his  preaching, 
remember — Ethan  Nash  and  Abraham  Cleary,  one  of  them 
a  consumptive,  lying  in  bed.  He  would  draw  a  little  table 
to  his  side,  writing  in  his  journal  day  by  day,  “My  heart  has 
been  moved  to  pray  for  Utica,  for  Syracuse,  for  Binghamton, 
for  Rochester,  for  Rome,”  and  Finney,  after  his  death,  got 
hold  of  this  memorandum  book  and  found  that  in  the  precise 
order  of  the  burden  laid  upon  that  man’s  heart  was  the  or¬ 
der  of  blessing  poured  out  in  his  ministry  in  those  places, 
and  among  others  he  found  a  memorandum  about  Ceylon, 
and  looking  into  the  records  of  the  American  Board,  he 
found  that  at  that  time  that  he  was  praying  on  his  sick-bed, 
they  had  a  great  revival  in  Ceylon.  Dr.  Scofield,  Mr. 
Moody’s  pastor,  was  telling  us,  in  Dr.  Nixon’s  church,  of  this 
very  fact  in  connection  with  a  common,  unlettered  man, 
who  -was  moved  so  to  pray  about  the  awful  lethargy  and 
apathy  in  the  town  in  which  he  lived.  In  the  middle  of  the 
night  a  man  came  and  rapped  at  the  door, ,  and  he  looked  so 
wild  that  he  thought  he  was  going  to  be  shot,  but  his  visitor 
proved  to  be  a  plain  farmer  from  the  country.  He  came  in 
and  got  down  on  his  knees  and  began  to  weep  and  pray  and 
confess  his  sins.  He  had  been  a  formal,  nominal  Christian, 
and  together  they  besought  God  for  that  town,  and  they  had 
scarcely  ceased  praying  when  they  received  news  of  a  mar¬ 
vellous  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  that  town,  and  it 
taught  me  a  tremendous  lesson  on  this  matter  of  prayer. 

There  is  a  motor  that  is  slumbering  unused  in  the 
Church  of  God.  It  is  the  motor  of  Prayer.  We  talk  about 
praying,  but  the  fact  is,  and  I  make  my  solemn  confession 
here  as  I  made  it  among  the  ministers  of  Brooklyn  yester¬ 
day,  God  has  shown  me  the  duty  and  privilege  of  prayer  and 
I  have  not  used  it.  I  know  very  little  about  prayer,  especial¬ 
ly  about  intercession,  and  I  feel  condemned  before  God  that 
I  know  so  much  about  what  prayer  is  in  theory  and  so  little 
about  it  in  practice,  and  to-day  I  laid  everything  aside  at 
the  busiest  time  of  my  life,  because  I  wanted  to  do  what  I 
could  to  strengthen  my  heart  and  the  hearts  of  my  brethren 
in  this  tremendous  matter. 


ii 


I  tell  you,  beloved,  that  wisdom  and  power  and  might 
and  grace  and  strength,  and  everything  else,  depend,  in  this 
coming  Conference,  upon  the  measure  of  the  fervency  and 
faith  of  our  own  prayer,  and  if  we  take  hold  upon  God,  there 
is  nothing  but  will  be  adjusted  and  rectified  in  con¬ 
formity  with  His  holy  will.  To  think  that  a  few  men  in 
Oxford  College  could  transform  English  spiritual  life,  and 
one  man  in  Northampton  could  do  the  same  thing  in 
America!  We  have  all  read  about  Mr.  Edwards’  sermon  in 
Enfield  upon  “Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God,”  read 
every  word  of  it,  and  people  got  up  and  held  fast  to  the  pil¬ 
lars  of  the  meeting-house  because  they  felt  their  feet  sliding 
into  hell,  but  we  do  not  know  that  the  night  before  that  ser¬ 
mon  was  delivered  the  officers  of  that  church  spent  in 
prayer  for  the  power  of  God  to  rest  on  him  the  next  day.  I 
say  again,  the  greatest  motor  on  earth  is  like  a  motive 
power  down  in  the  cellar  of  a  building  that  is  not  geared 
onto  machinery,  and  there  is  nothing,  in  my  judgment,  that 
God  means  that  we  should  learn  more  than  that  Christ  is  in 
the  midst  of  two  or  three.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  large  num¬ 
bers:  and  that  where  He  is.  He  is  the  master  musician,  and 
all  we  have  to  do  is  to  put  the  keys  of  the  instrument  in 
tune  with  each  other  and  in  tune  with  God,  and  then  let  the 
Lord  Jesus  lay  the  hands  that  were  pierced  for  us  on  the 
keys  of  the  instrument,  and  produce  the  divine  symphony 
there. 

Let  us  pray. 

Oh,  Almighty  God,  we  thank  Thee  that  concerning  the 
work  of  Thy  hands,  we  may  command;  not  simply  ask,  but 
claim.  This  thing  is  too  big  for  us;  we  cannot  manage  it; 
it  is  a  stupendous  undertaking.  It  requires  more  than  all 
human  wisdom  combined  to  make  arrangements  for  this 
Conference,  to  project  its  programme,  to  determine  those 
who  shall  take  part  in  it  audibly;  to  prepare  for  its  various 
meetings.  It  requires  something  far  beyond  us  to  deter¬ 
mine  who  shall  come  to  it  and  shall  contribute  by  their  pres¬ 
ence,  their  prayers,  their  sympathies,  their  counsel  to  what 
is  done  and  said,  to  what  is  determined,  and  what  shall  be 
the  final  outcome.  Thou  canst  lay  Thy  hand  upon  some  one 
that  may  be  chosen  to  come  here,  but  would  bring  no  bless¬ 
ing,  and  Thou  canst  detain  such  and  prevent  their  coming. 
Or  Thou  canst  peculiarly  anoint,  with  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  those  that  are  appointed  to  come,  so  that  they  shall 
come,  not  in  their  own  might,  not  in  their  own  wisdom,  but 
in  the  power  of  God.  Even  the  things  that  seem  to  be  un¬ 
toward  and  disastrous,  disappointing,  discouraging,  Thou 
canst  take  out  of  the  way,  or  turn  to  the  glory  of  Thy  Name. 

And  now,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  beseech  that  what¬ 
ever  else  takes  place  here  this  morning,  there  may  be  the 
most  thorough  prostration  of  heart  before  God,  the  most 
absolute  humiliation;  that  we  may  see  how  far  our  divine 
knowledge  has  been  above  our  practice,  how  far  our  concep- 

12 


tions  have  been  beyond  our  expectation,  how  far  our  in¬ 
struction  has  outrun  our  actual  practical  contact  with  Thee. 
Oh,  our  God,  we  beseech  Thee,  bring  to  naught  any  of  our 
thoughts  which  are  not  according  to  Thy  thoughts,  and  now 
grant  that  we  may  be  like  a  musical  instrument  that  is  open 
to  the  touch  of  God,  that  is  in  tune  with  the  divine  purpose, 
the  keys  of  which  are  in  sympathy  with  each  other  and  pre¬ 
pared  for  God  to  use  us  in  this  symphony  of  prayer,  that  be¬ 
cause  Christ  is  in  the  midst  and  touches  our  hearts  with  His 
own  divine  power,  we  respond  to  the  divine  will,  and  our 
will  is  lost  in  the  will  of  God. 

Now,  if  we  have  had  any  thought  that  we  could  guide 
this  Conference,  or  that  we  could  contribute  anything  to  the 
wisdom  of  these  counsels,  we  pray  Thee  that  we  may  aban¬ 
don  all  our  self-complacency  and  self-conceit,  and  that  we 
may  come  before  Thee  this  morning,  and  maintain  this  atti¬ 
tude  throughout  the  day  and  the  weeks  and  months  that  are 
to  follow ;  that  we  may  come  before  Thee  in  absolute  renun¬ 
ciation  of  all  dependence  upon  anything  but  God,  that  it  may 
seem  first  best  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  then  to  us,  what  shall 
be  done  and  what  shall  be  planned;  and  we  beseech  Thee, 
Lord,  that  Thou  wilt  so  cover  us  with  Thy  presence  as  that 
we  may  gc  forth  from  this  place  to-day  with  the  deep  and 
abiding  consciousness  that  we  have  met  God,  that  our  hearts 
have  been  moulded  together  before  the  Shekinah  flame, 
that  we  have  been  taught  what  God  would  have  us  to  do,  and 
that  we  have  simply  sought  to  follow  as  the  Spirit  leads, 
and  as  the  pillar  of  cloud  went  before  Israel  to  search  out 
the  place  where  the  tents  should  be  pitched,  we  pray  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  may  distinctly  go  before  us  to  search  out 
the  place  of  our  rest,  the  modes  of  our  activity  and  the 
paths  in  which  we  walk. 

Now,  Lord,  unite  our  hearts  in  prayer,  in  holy  counsel, 
in  holy  subjection  to  the  word  and  will  of  God,  and  may  this 
be  a  wonderful  meeting  that  shall  be  the  forecast  of  un¬ 
speakable  blessing  throughout  this  great  Conference,  and 
shall  assure  an  issue,  an  ultimate'  issue,  that  shall  be  to  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  men  and  the  quickening 
of  everything  that  is  most  according  to  the  will  of  God, 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Amen. 

REV.  STANLEY  WHITE: 

It  seems  to  me  that  one  of  the  most  tremendous  perils 
that  face  those  who  enter  into  this  kind  of  work  is  the  peril 
of  getting  caught  in  the  multitudinous  details  of  it,  and  in 
thinking  that  a  great  machinery  is  able  to  accomplish  a 
great  work  for  God.  I  believe  that  that  is  one  of  the  perils 
of  our  present  time.  We  have  forgotten,  largely,  I  mean, 
not  in  connection  with  this  Conference,  but  in  connection 
with  religious  work  generally,  too  many  of  us  have  forgot¬ 
ten  the  privilege  of  communion  with  the  most  high  God. 
People  say  this  is  not  a  religious  age.  I  somehow  cannot 

13 


agree  with  that.  I  may  he  wrong,  hut  it  seems  to  me  that 
there  never  was  a  time  when  there  was  so  much  activity 
that  should  be  recognized  as  religious  activity ;  never  a  time 
when  religious  desire  was  more  translated  into  practical 
work;  never  a  time  when  there  were  so  many  conferences; 
never  a  time  when  there  were  so  many  meetings.  And  yet, 
strangely  enough,  the  curious  fact  is  that  right  along  with 
all  this  energy  there  seems  to  be  a  dearth  of  interest  in  the 
matter  of  attendance  upon  service,  on  the  meditative  side  of 
our  religious  life,  upon  communion  with  God.  Men  seem  to 
have  changed  the  emphasis.  Now  I  believe  that  there  is 
nothing  that  we  need  to  lay  such  stress  upon,  not  only  in  all 
our  work,  but  at  this  particular  time,  when  we  are  planning 
a  great  Conference,  than  that  those  who  are  interested  in  it 
should  have  anew  the  vision  of  God  and  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Personally,  my  enthusiasm  for  the  work  of  foreign  mis¬ 
sions  begins  when  I  look  into  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  Un¬ 
til  I  can  realize  His  relation  to  myself,  until  I  see  the  beauty 
of  His  character,  until  I  am  fairly  filled  with  a  knowledge 
of  the  Master,  I  have  no  enthusiasm  to  go  and  tell  other  peo¬ 
ple  about  Him.  I  am  interested  in  the  world  and  in  men’s 
sufferings  and  needs,  but  I  must  be  more  interested,  and 
first  I  must  be*  interested  in  the  One  through  whom  their 
souls  are  saved,  and  my  one  thought  as  I  have  been  sitting 
here  is  that  I  wish  the  emphasis  at  this  Conference  might  be 
put  on  the  spiritual  communion  with  God,  so  that  we  shall 
have  first  the  vision  of  Christ  and  know  what  we  are  talking, 
about,  and  know  what  the  main  aim  of  that  Conference  is,  to 
get  it  down  to  a  distinct  point,  that  what  we  are  trying  to  do 
is  to  tell  others  about  that  Christ  who  is  so  precious  to  us, 
upholding  Him  and  communing  with  Him.  We  shall  be  able 
then  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the  plan  of  the  work  and  do 
a  practical  kind  of  work,  having  been  touched  by  the  Spirit 
of  God.  The  various  agencies  and  various  work  that  is  done, 
it  seems  to  me,  will  fall  into  its  proper  place.  Let  us  pray 
continually  for  having  the  vision  of  Christ. 

Let  us  pray. 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  find  ourselves 
continually,  as  we  go  about  Thy  work  here  in  the  world, 
caught  in  all  the  details  of  the  work,  forgetting  the  time  of 
our  spiritual  communion  with  Thee,  forgetting  to  keep  our 
hearts  tender  and  our  thoughts  on  Thee  and  Thy  truth,  and 
we  ask  that  Thou  wilt  pardon  us,  and  that  Thou  wouldst 
help  us  to  see  that  the  real,  essential  thing  that  we  are  try¬ 
ing  to  do  is  simply  to  tell  men  of  One  who  has  been  very 
precious  to  us.  The  work  is  very  simple  in  its  motive,  and 
oh,  wilt  Thou  clarify  our  vision,  wilt  Thou  help  us  to  keep 
our  hearts  pure  so  that  we  shall  see  God,  and,  seeing  Him, 
tell  of  Him  to  others,  and  may  there  be  a  deep  spiritual 
experience  coming  to  us  all  in  these  coming  weeks  as  we 
shall  study  of  Thy  work  and  think  of  Thy  work,  and  may  it 
be  a  great  power  because  more  men  have  beheld  the  face  of 
Christ. 


14 


Hear  us  in  this  our  prayer,  and  accept  us  and  the 
service  which  we  shall  render,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Re¬ 
deemer.  Amen. 

PRAYER. 

MR.  MOiRNAY  WILLIAMS: 

0  Thou,  our  Father,  and  the  Father  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  we  would  come  to  Thee  in  the  courage 
of  His  prayer,  knowing  that  we  are  Thine  because  we  are 
Christ’s,  knowing  that  all  His  are  Thine,  and  Thine  are  His; 
knowing  that  He  has  prayed  for  us  that  our  faith  also  fail 
not.  O  Lord,  by  the  power  of  that  prayer  of  our  Saviour’s 
for  us,  make  us  strong  for  service.  If  there  be  that  in  us, 
and,  O  Lord,  we  know  that  there  is,  which  is  not  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  Thy  will,  if  there  be  impure  human  motives  and 
self-love,  and  ambition,  if  there  be  anything  that  Thy  pure 
eyes  cannot  look  upon,  we  pray  Thee  that  Thou  wilt  burn 
it  out  with  the  fire  of  Thine  own  most  divine  love.  And, 
O  Lord,  we  pray  now  for  this  great  city  where  this  Confer¬ 
ence  is  to  be  held,  nominally  a  Christian  city,  bearing  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  its  great  multitudes  going  into  His 
temples,  and  yet  so  far  from  Thee.  O  Lord,  visit  us  not, 
we  pray  Thee,  for  our  sins.  We  have  been  lukewarm,  we 
have  been  neither  cold  nor  hot,  but  Thou,  O  God,  send  us 
not  away.  Renew  in  us,  we  pray  Thee,  the  Spirit.  Grant 
unto  us  further  evidence  of  Thy  presence  with  us.  Pre¬ 
pare  us  that,  as  this  great  Conference  gathers,  our  hearts 
may  be  attuned  and  in  harmony  with  the  great  will  and 
purpose  of  God  which  ever’ moves  serenely  on.  Teach  us, 
O  Lord,  how  we  can  miniser  to  those  who  have  ministered 
to  others  that  indeed  it  may  be  an  interconnection  from 
heart  to  heart  of  the  purpose  and  will  of  God  moving  in 
each,  that  we  may  see  more  clearly  what  our  duty  is  for  the 
men  and  women  immediately  about  us,  and  what  our  duty 
is  for  those  in  the  very  utmost  corners  of  the  earth.  Grant 
unto  us,  we  pray  Thee,  that  we  may  know  the  power  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  us;  that  in  all  our  plans  He  may  direct; 
that  in  all  our  thoughts  He  may  control;  that  in  all  our 
emotions  the  love  of  Him  and  the  praise  of  Him  may  domi¬ 
nate  every  other  thought,  and  then  we  know  that  whether 
men  say  it  is  a  success  or  it  is  a  failure,  the  outcome  is  Thine 
and  the  glory  shall  be  Thine  forever.  Amen. 


REV.  GEORGE  W.  CHAMBERLAIN,  D.  D.: 

The  peril  spoken  of  by  a  previous  speaker  is  a  real  one — 
the  peril  of  becoming  absorbed  by  the  machinery.  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  scenes  that  ever  occurred  in  this  city, 
one  that  attracted  the  attention  of  heaven  if  not  of  men, 
occurred  in  a  carriage  crossing  the  city,  between  a  native 
African  and  a  native  American.  The  American  invited  this 
hoy  to  go  with  him,  intending  to  show  him  the  great  build¬ 
ings.  But  finally  the  African  turned  to  him  and  said,  “It 
will  be  well  to  pray  in  a  carriage?”  “Yes,”  the  American 

15 


replied;  “I  have  had  communion  with  God  many  a  time  in 
a  carriage.”  “Then,”  said  the  African,  “let  us  pray.”  Put¬ 
ting  his  hand  upon  the  American  he  turned  him  around 
upon  his  knees  and  said.  “I  came  from  Africa  to  ask)  this 
man  to  tell  me  about  Thee,  and  he  is  telling  me  about  the 
buildings.  I  don’t  want  to  know  about  the  buildings.  I 
want  to  know  about  Thee.  Teach  him  to  tell  me  about  Thee, 
about  Thy  Spirit.”  The  American,  narrating  this,  said,  “I 
have  had  the  hands  of  Bishops  put  upon  me,  but  I  never  had 
such  grace  come  upon  me  as  I  had  from  the  hand  of  that 
African.”  He  was  sent  out  to  a  university  in  Indiana  to  be 
educated,  for  he  could  not  speak  English  very  well.  Every 
student  that  came  into  his  room  he  would  ask  to  read  a 
chapter  from  the  Bible.  One  time  he  asked  a  young  man  to 
read  a  chapter  from  the  Bible,  and  the  young  man  said,  “I 
don’t  believe  in  that  book.  I  am  not  a  Christian.”  The 
African  said,  “What!  Your  Father  speak  to  you  and  you  not 
know  him?  I  pray  for  you.”  And  down  on  his  knees  he 
went  to  pray,  and  that  American  was  converted.  The  Af¬ 
rican  was  a  heathen  intending  to  prepare  himself  to  go  back 
and  preach  to  his  own  tribe,  but  the  Lord  made  him  a 
brother  to  Americans,  and  took  him  up  to  heaven. 

Right  in  the  midst  of  this  Conference  that  is  gathered 
here,  coming  from  foreign  lands,  unwilling  to  attract  the 
eye  of  a  stranger,  if  we  can  only  have  the  singleness  of 
view  of  that  African,  we  will  get  a  blessing  that  will  take 
us  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  in  person  or  in  sympathy,  and 
we  will  see  a  work  of  God  completed,  which  is  the  only  work 
that  can  satisfy. 

PRAYER. 

O  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Father  of 
all  mercies,  Lord  of  all  comfort,  we  bless  Thee  for  the  gift 
of  Thy  Son.  We  thank  Thee,  O  Thou  eternal  Son  of  God, 
that  Thou  didst  take  upon  Thee  flesh  and  dwell  among  us, 
full  of  grace  and  truth.  When  Thou  didst  carry  Thy  devo¬ 
tion  through  all  the  contradiction  of  sinners  to  the  bitter 
end,  and  was  apparently  defeated,  buried  out  of  sight,  that 
then  Thou  didst  show  Thyself  as  Thou  art,  the  eternal  Son 
of  God,  quickened  by  the  Spirit,  manifesting  Thy  power 
over  the  last  enemy,  and  ascending  on  high,  a  Prince  and 
a  Saviour  to  give  gifts.  Give  us,  we  pray  Thee,  the  remis¬ 
sion  of  all  our  sins  as  Thy  children;  repentance  for  all  our 
lethargy  and  slowness  of  heart  to  believe  all  that  is  spoken 
of  Thee  in  Moses  and  the  Prophets  and  the  Psalms  and  the 
Gospels.  Help  us,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we 
pray,  to  be  in  entire  sympathy  with  Thee,  moved  by  the 
same  Spirit  which  moved  Thee  to  leave  the  glory  which. 
Thou  hadst  with  the  Father  from  before  the  time  that  the 
earth  was,  to  go  forth  as  Thou  didst  go  forth.  Give  us  the 
same  humility  which  abased  Thee,  which  led  Thee  to  be 
born  of  a  virgin,  not  in  a  palace  but  among  the  beasts  of 

16 


the  stall.  Give  us  such  humility,  we  pray,  that  we  will  b© 
ready  to  go  down  to  the  lost  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit.  We 
thank  Thee  for  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  thank  Thee 
that  it  has  been  given,  that  we  need  not  pray  that  Thou 
wouldst  give  what  Thou  hast  already  given.  O  Lord, 
open  our  hearts  to  receive  the  gift  in  the  fullness  thereof, 
Conference  may  be  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus,  so 
that,  exalted  at  Thy  right  hand,  we  may  come  down  to  the 
that,  filled  with  the  Spirit,  we  may  have  fellowship  with 
Thee  and  so  with  one  another;  that  our  conversation,  our 
work  with  the  power  of  God  upon  us  to  accomplish  more 
than  we  have  ever  yet  dreamed  of  accomplishing,  to  go 
forth  in  the  power  of  Thy  Spirit,  having  the  very  dynamite 
of  God  in  us  for  the  exploding  of  all  the  cities  walled  up 
to  heaven,  for  the  destruction  of  all  giants  that  oppose 
Thy  way  to  the  possession  of  the  whole  world. 

O  Lord,  we  confess  our  sins,  and  we  have  been  willing 
to  send  in  spies  of  the  land  and  rely  upon  human  testimony 
rather  than  Thine,  and  we  implore  Thee  to  help  us  to  over¬ 
come  this,  and  to  drop  out  of  sight  both  the  minority  and 
majority  reports  that  come  up,  and  give  us  wholly  to  fol¬ 
low  Thee  implicitly,  because  Thou  hast  said,  and  we  expect 
the  fulfillment  of  that  promise,  ‘‘Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the 
days,  even  to  the  end.”  May  this  be  the  help  of  our  Con¬ 
ference  to-day  and  to-morrow  and  all  the  days,  until  they 
shall  gather  in  this  city  from  all  portions  of  the  earth,  and 
O  Lord  may  it  be  a  Pentecost  indeed,  a  time  of  blessing 
that  in  this  great  city  Thy  voice  may  be  heard  and  under¬ 
stood  by  all  peoples  and  air  tongues  who  are  gathered,  and 
be  an  occasion  of  sending  forth,  as  never  before,  among  all 
the  nations  the  feet  of  them  that  shall  publish  glad  tidings 
of  great  joy. 

We  ask  it  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Amen. 


REV.  A.  C.  DIXON,  D.  D.: 

What  has  stirred  me  most  is  the  fourth  chapter  of  the 
Acts:  “When  they  had  prayed,  the  place  was  shaken,” 
and  you  know  that  seven  things  followed  their  praying.  The 
place  was  shaken  and  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  they  spake  the  Word  of  God  with  boldness,  and 
the  multitude  of  them  that  believed  were  of  one  heart  and 
one  soul,  neither  said  any  of  them  that  aught  of  the  things 
which  he  possessed  was  his  own,  but  they  had  all  things 
in  common,  and  with  great  fear  gave  the  Apostles  witness 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  great 
grace  was  upon  them  all.  Everything  that  was  needed  came 
when  they  prayed,  and  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  we  might 
magnify  the  speaking  in  this  Conference  to  come  to  much. 
There  has  been  enough  good  preaching  in  New  York  to 
shake  it,  if  good  preaching  could  do  it.  When  they  prayed 
the  city  was  shaken,  and  God  works  not  in  answer  so  much 
to  our  speaking  to  men  as. our  speaking  to  Him.  I  have 

1 7 


thought  of  the  four-fold  unity  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost. 
This  is  just  a  continuation  of  that.  They  were  all  together 
in  one  place.  That  was  a  unity  of  place.  Then  there  was  a 
unity  of  purpose:  they  were  of  one  accord.  Then  there  was 
a  unity  of  experience:  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost.  And  a  unity  of  action:  they  all  spake.  And  you 
notice  they  all  came  together  to  pray,  and  while  they  were 
there  together,  the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon  the  whole  com¬ 
pany  and  then  the  tongues  of  fire.  He  first  came  as  the 
rushing,  mighty  wind,  and  then  the  tongues  of  fire,  and  isn’t 
it  true  in  all  God’s  workings  that  He  comes  upon  the  as¬ 
sembly,  and  it  is  through  the  assembly  praying  together 
that  the  tongue  of  fire  is  coming  upon  the  people?  The  dif¬ 
ference  between  Christians,  it  seems  to  me,  is  one  of  full¬ 
ness  and  power,  and  when  we  get  full  of  God’s  Holy  Spirit 
in  answer  to  prayer,  there  will  be  the  tongue  of  fire  upon 
each  one  of  us. 

I  heard  an  eloquent  sermon  some  time  ago.  It  was 
great  in  thought  and  finished  in  rhetoric,  but  I  could  not 
help  feeling  that  it  was  empty.  There  was  something  hol¬ 
low  about  it.  There  was  not  fullness  of  power,  and  I  prayed, 
“0  God,  give  us  the  fullness  of  Thy  Spirit,”  and  if  we  can 
all  just  get  together,  not  a  great  crowd,  perhaps,  but  a 
people  together  on  their  faces  before  God,  then  this  city 
and  this  world  can  be  shaken  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Let  us  pray. 

O  God,  our  Father,  may  we  sing  “God  is  able.”  May  we 
believe  that  He  is  suflicient  to  all  things.  We  know  that  He 
is  all  powerful,  but  Jesus,  the  all-powerful  God,  was  able  to 
do  no  mighty  works  because  of  their  unbelief.  He  stood 
there  helpless,  as  there  was  no  channel  through  which  he 
could  work.  0  God,  help  us  to  enable  Thee  by  our  faith. 
Give  us  such  faith  in  the  Holy  Spirit  that  we  can  believe 
He  is  powerful  enough  to  shake  New  York  through  this 
Conference,  through  the  prayers  of  His  people  who  shall 
come  together  and  be  of  one  accord  and  continue  in  prayer 
and  supplication  until  the  blessing  shall  come. 

Father,  we  thank  Thee  for  the  Spirit  of  evangelism 
among  the  people.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  prayer  meeting 
of  the  ministers  in  Brooklyn  yesterday.  We  thank  Thee  for 
the  desire  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  and  wilt 
Thou  give  us  such  a  tidal  wave  of  revival  that  all  opposition 
to  God  shall  be  swept  away,  and  Jesus  Christ  shall  reign  in 
our  hearts,  in  our  churches,  in  our  plans,  in  our  lives.  May 
we  utilize  all  the  influences  for  God — money,  and  social  posi¬ 
tion,  and  organization.  But,  Father,  may  we  not  trust  in 
Influence,  may  we  trust  in  God!  Give  us  power  rather  than 
influence,  and  if  we  have  to  sacrifice  influence  for  the  sake 
of  power,  may  we  be  willing  to  do  it,  for  we  remember  that 
our  Saviour  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  but  He  had  the 
power  of  God.  Keep  us  in  touch  with  God.  May  we  be  in 
right  relation  with  God.  If  there  is  anything  in  our  hearts 

18 


that  keeps  us  from  having  fellowship  with  God,  wilt  Thou 
remove  it  and  help  us  to  walk  with  Him  in  this  Conference, 
not  striving  to  induce  Him  to  walk  with  us.  May  we  be 
completely  abandoned  to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  Philip  was  when 
he  went  into  Samaria  to  preach,  and  work  was  found  for 
him  in  the  desert  place,  and  so  wherever  the  Spirit  guides* 
may  we  go  under  Thy  control,  and  may  those  in  charge  of 
this  Conference  be  guided  by  Thee.  And  wilt  Thou  plan 
through  them  and  speak  through  them  and  pray  with  those 
who  pray  with  groanings  that  cannot  be  uttered.  Give  us, 
our  Father,  the  power  of  God,  and  may  we  do  His  work  in 
His  way  to  His  glory  ever,  with  His  power,  for  Jesus’  sake. 
Amen. 


REV.  A.  B.  LEONARD,  D.  D.: 

In  all  that  has  been  uttered  in  speech  and  prayer  con¬ 
cerning  the  importance  of  the  presence  and  help  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  this  Conference  I  believe.  But  some  of  us 
that  have  been  engaged  for  more  than  two  years  in  plan¬ 
ning  for  it,  praying  constantly  that  it  may  be  made  a  suc¬ 
cess,  realize,  I  think,  in  some  measure  that  there  is  some 
value  attached  to  the  organization  of  this  Conference.  I 
suppose  that  when  the  programme  shall  be  published  that 
it  will  not  please  everybody.  I  apprehend  that  a  good  many 
in  reading  it  will  think  that  there  are  men  on  that  ought 
to  be  off,  and  men  off  that  ought  to  be  on.  But  I  think  the 
effort  has  been  sincere  and  God-fearing  to  plan  in  the  very 
best  possible  way.  That  mistakes  have  been  made  and  will 
be  made  I  suppose  may  be  conceded,  but  it  requires  a  good 
deal  of  work,  a  good  deal  of  toil  to  organize  such  a  Confer¬ 
ence.  I  confess  that  I  had  no  idea  of  its  magnitude  when 
the  work  was  commenced,  but  it  has  grown  upon  me  won¬ 
derfully  as  the  months  and  years  have  gone  by,  and  now 
we  come  to  a  little  more  than  three  months  of  the  time 
when  this  great  Conference  must  convene.  I  think  the  work 
will  get  along  without  me  somehow,  but  I  have  an  anxiety 
about  it.  I  cannot  help  that.  I  think  about  it  by  day  and 
sometimes  by  night,  and  wonder  what  the  outcome  will  be. 
If  something  can  be  done — I  think  the  Lord  will  have  to 
use  some  machinery  somehow  in  relation  to  this — if  some¬ 
thing  can  be  done  whereby  the  ministers,  God’s  ministers — 
they  are  God’s  ministers — -can  be  aroused  to  the  importance 
of  this  Conference,  its  far-reaching  results,  so  that  the 
churches  of  this  city  will  be  stirred  and  take  an  interest  in 
it,  I  doubt  not  it  will  be  in  a  large  measure  a  success.  But, 
as  we  are  getting  so  near  the  time  when  the  Conference 
must  convene,  I  really  feel  some  anxiety — a  good  deal  of 
anxiety — about  the  effect  it  will  have  upon  the  city  of  New 
York  itself.  And  I  raise  the  question  now  whether  we  are 
doing  as  much  as  we  ought  to  do  to  stir  up  the  churches 
and  get  them  to  understand  something  about  the  magnitude 
of  this  work  we  have  undertaken.  It  seems  to  me  nothing 

19 


so  important  is  likely  to  transpire  upon  this  footstool  for 
the  Kingdom  of  God  as  this  Conference  in  the  closing  days 
of  the  month  of  April.  I  say  again,  I  believe  in  prayer  and 
the  absolute  necessity  of  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but 
somehow  the  machinery  must  he  organized  and  it  must  be 
worked,  and  this  must  be  accomplished  very  largely  through 
human  agencies.  I  utter  these  words  for  the  purpose,  if 
possible,  of  enlisting  more  earnestly  those  that  are  here 
this  morning  in  the  attempt  to  impress  the  churches— the 
ministers  and  churches — of  New  York  with  the  greatness 
of  this  Conference,  its  importance  to  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
this  world.  Let  us  pray. 

O  God,  help  us  to  feel  our  utter,  our  absolute  depend¬ 
ence  upon  Thee.  Of  ourselves  we  can  do  nothing,  but  if  we 
are  willing  to  be  used  by  Thee,  Thou  canst  accomplish  even 
great  things  through  such  weak  instruments  as  we  are. 
We  humbly  and  devoutly  look  to  Thee.  We  pray  for  Thy 
presence  and  help.  Unless  Thou  shalt  help  us,  all  our  ef¬ 
forts  will  be  unavailing,  and  we  shall  be  mortified  and  con¬ 
fused  and  confounded  before  the  world;  but  if  Thou  shalt 
help  us,  if  we  are  pleasing  Thee  in  attempting  to  hold  this 
Conference,  if  it  is  for  Thy  glory  and  not  for  the  glory  of 
any  denomination,  not  for  the  glory  of  individuals,  but  if 
it  be  for  Thy  glory,  for  the  glory  of  Thy  Son,  Jesus  Christ, 
our  Lord,  if  this  be  our  single  purpose  and  aim,  we  may 
believe  that  Thou  wilt,  through  this  instrumentality,  build 
up  Thy  kingdom  in  the  earth,  enlarge  its  borders  and  in 
the  dim  and  distant  future  bring  even  multiplied  millions 
into  Thy  kingdom,  lifting  this  world  up  out  of  its  sin  and 
shame  and  misery  into  the  fellowship  of  God. 

Hear  us,  we  beg,  in  Jesus’  name.  Amen. 

REV.  F.  F.  ELLINWOOD,  D.  D.: 

I  am  assured  that  all  those  who  have  been  members 
of  the  different  committees  connected  with  this  Ecumenical 
Council,  all  those  who  are  present  that  are  on  those  com¬ 
mittees,  must  feel  that  it  is  good  for  us,  perhaps  I  may  say 
for  us  especially,  to  be  here  this  morning  where  I  think 
there  are  evidences  of  the  presence  of  God’s  Spirit.  As  has 
been  suggested  by  Dr.  Leonard,  we  have  been  at  work  for 
many  months  upon  the  details  of  preparation.  We  have 
not  undertaken  that  work,  I  am  sure,  wholly  in  our  own 
wisdom.  Everything  has  been  done  with  prayer.  But  if  I 
may  be  allowed  such  an  expression,  there  is  prayer,  and 
prayer,  two  quite  different  things  in  the  promise  of  outcome, 
and  in  the  realization  of  power,  and  I  am  sure  that  it  is  of 
great  consequence  to  us  to  have  met,  this  morning,  some 
who  are  not  in  these  committees,  and  to  take  witness  of 
the  fact  that  God’s  Spirit  is  working  in  the  hearts  of  Chris¬ 
tians  round  about  us  toward  the  same  end.  And  as  I  sat 
here  and  listened  to  the  prayers  and  joined  in  them,  and  to 
the  suggestions  that  have  been  made,  the  thought  came 


20 


over  me,  What  a  pity  it  is  that  all  the  members  of  all  the 
committees  could  not  be  here,  and,  carrying  out  that  idea, 
what  a  pity  that  every  man  that  has  been  asked  or  shall  be 
asked  to  prepare  any  paper,  or  prepare  any  address  for  the 
coming  Conference  could  not  be  here!  We  have  felt  our 
littleness  in  the  committees.  We  have  felt,  as  has  been  ex¬ 
pressed  here,  our  utter  inability  to  cope  with  such  an  en¬ 
terprise  as  this,  for  it  is  not  merely  the  impression  that 
shall  be  made  during  those  ten  days  and  upon,  those  who 
are  to  meet  upon  that  occasion,  but  it  is  setting  a  keynote, 
so  to  speak,  for  the  next  decade.  It  is  taking  the  whole 
interest  of  the  cause  of  redemption,  at  home  and  abroad, 
upon  our  hearts,  and  if,  when  we  have  done  that,  we  shall 
find  that  we  have  not  been  in  touch  with  this  supernatural 
power  of  God’s  grace,  and  men  shall  rather  look  upon  our 
failure  and  say,  “Aha!”  why  it  is  a  terrible  disaster,  and 
harm  even  may  have  been  done.  Then  comes  in  the  thought 
of  the  resource  of  prayer  and  intercession.  We  cannot  here 
this  morning  reach  the  minds  and  hearts  of  all  those  who 
shall  be  writing  and  preparing  in  these  coming  months, 
and  preparing  the  hearts  of  all  who  shall  come,  even  though 
they  may  not  take  public  part,  but  God  can  do  that  and 
there  is  the  unspeakable  advantage  of  having  the  privilege 
of  intercession  and  asking  that  God  will  touch  the  heart  of 
every  one  who  perhaps  may  this  very  day  be  writing  or 
preparing,  and  that  the  idea  of  the  power  of  God  and  the 
supreme  object  of  Christ’s  kingdom  may  fill  all  hearts. 
That  is  the  idea  that  is  to  possess  us  here,  and  not  this 
morning  only,  I  trust,  but  in  all  the  intervening  weeks  be¬ 
fore  the  Conference  shall  be  held.  And  I  was  thinking, 
why  may  there  not  be  just  such  meetings  as  this  in  every 
city,  at  least  the  larger  places,  and  widening  out  from  them, 
why  may  there  not  be  a  suggestion,  an  impulse,  not  ours 
but  God’s,  that  every  church  shall  have  a  special  season 
of  prayer  between  November  and  the  Conference,  one  at 
least  in  which  the  greatness  of  this  undertaking,  if  you 
please,  the  hazard  of  it,  and  certainly  the  possibilities  of  it, 
for  good  to  suffering  manhood  and  a  blind,  sinful  world, 
may  be  taken  up  and  not  only  discussed,  but  borne  up  by 
earnest  hearts  before  God’s  throne  of  grace.  Is  it  too  much 
to  hope  that  out  of  this  meeting  may  go,  along  the  line 
of  the  prayers  that  have  been  offered  and  the  practical  sug¬ 
gestions  that  have  been  made,  results  so  that  the  prayer 
and  the  planning  and  the  acting  and  the  devising  may  all 
be  united  in  one  under  the  direction  of  God’s  Spirit  to  the 
Glory  of  His  name,  and  to  the  furtherance  of  His  king¬ 
dom. 


RBV.  J.  T.  GRACE Y,  D.  D.s 

I  am  aware  that  we  have  some  difficulties  to  cope  with 
in  the  inauguration  of  and  the  conduct  of  this  coming  Con¬ 
ference  that  are  unprecendented.  The  two  or  three  Con- 


21 


ferences — the  Liverpool  and  the  Mildmay  and  the  London — 
that  have  preceded  this,  have  had,  in  some  respects,  easy 
conditions  compared  with  ours.  Bring  Maine  down  and  put 
it  alongside  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  and  crowd 
thirty  millions  of  people  into  it,  and  you  will  see  how  com¬ 
paratively  that  will  lessen  the  degree  of  moving  the  masses 
of  people.  But  we  have  sixty  or  seventy  millions  of  people 
scattered  over  this  immense  territory.  London  for  the 
other  conferences  had  as  its  center  two  missionaries  to  one 
of  what  we  have  in  the  United  States.  It  is  the  heart  of 
the  Christian  world,  easy  of  access  to  Continental  people, 
just  as  easy  of  access  for  us  as  this  is  for  them.  I  have 
queried  how  it  is  possible  to  educate  the  people  of  the 
United  States  as  to  the  giving  of  the  lines  to  be  laid  down, 
to  say  nothing  about  the  results  to  be  thought  of  in  this 
Conference.  I  recognize  what  Dr.  Leonard  says  about  the 
importance  of  having  New  York  thoroughly  aroused  and 
stirred.  Now  I  do  want  to  say  as  a  matter  of  encourage¬ 
ment  that  while  you  sit  here  in  New  York  and  think  of  New 
York,  there  is,  thank  God,  a  great  initial  movement  in  the 
heart  of  the  Protestant  churches  over  this  land  toward 
this  coming  Conference.  That  is  one  thing  to  encourage  us. 
I  am  an  optimist.  You  must  make  all  the  discount  as  I  go 
on.  Then  I  have  seen  what  has  been  done,  although  with 
a  very  large  preparation,  in  moving  masses  of  these  people 
over  the  United  States.  There  is  a  great,  broad  Christian 
Church  in  this  land  that  is  moved,  and  moved  in  a  way  that 
you  do  not  observe,  about  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  and  God  is  out  here  in  these  churches.  God  has  been 
kindling  these  missionary  interests,  and  while  we  have  got 
the  peculiar  problem  of  trying  to  hold  the  first  great  World’s 
Missionary  Conference  here,  I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary — 
unless  it  is  necessary  to  stir  ourselves  to  a  little  more  cau¬ 
tion  and  a  little  more  energy  in  some  way  or  other — I  do 
not  think  it  is  quite  good  just  now  to  take  any  counsel  of 
our  fears.  There  is  a  mighty  note  of  triumph  in  this  world, 
brethren.  God  is  moving  all  over  this  world.  God  is  moving 
leagues  on  leagues,  and  leagues  on  leagues  ahead  of  the 
Christian  Church.  He  is  away  out  yonder  calling  us  to 
bring  the  colors  up.  It  is  God’s  work.  I  have  been  trying 
to  get  this  good  brother  here  to  lead  in  prayer,  but  he  is  a 
little  hard  of  hearing. 

PRAYER. 

REV.  ANDREW  LONGA CRE,  D.  D.: 

O  ascended  Lord  Christ,  our  Saviour  and  Redeemer, 
Thou  didst  not  lay  upon  Thy  church  the  duty  of  going  out 
into  all  the  world  without  assuring  Thy  disciples  that  all 
power  was  given  to  Thee,  and  that  Thou  wouldst  go  with 
them  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.  Grant  us,  we  pray 
Thee,  in  all  our  work  done  for  Thee,  in  all  that 
we  offer  or  attempt  to  do,  grant  us  to  trust  in 


22 


Thy  perpetual  presence,  to  have  confidence  in  Thy  suffi¬ 
cient  power.  Leave  us  never  to  imagine  that  Thou  dost 
forsake  us.  Leave  us  never  to  doubt  Thy  presence  and 
Thy  continued  help.  We  confess  that  there  is  no  good  in 
us.  We  have  never  had  a  good  thought  or  a  longing  for  the 
advance  of  Thy  kingdom  that  Thou  didst  not  give  us.  Thou 
beginnest  the  work  in  us,  O  blessed  Lord.  Give  us  un¬ 
ceasing  trust  that  Thou  who  beginnest  it  will  carry  it  for¬ 
ward  in  us  and  by  us.  Thou  hast  taught  us  to  pray  “Thy 
kingdom  come.”  Thou  hast  laid  the  burden  of  it  on  our 
hearts  here  in  this  world.  Help  us  to  know  that  Thou  art 
with  us  in  every  step  taken.  We  are  very  conscious  of  our 
own  defective  judgment.  We  know  how  many  mistakes  we 
have  made.  We  do  not  expect  to  avoid  them,  but  Thou  art 
mightier  than  our  mistakes.  We  are  very  poor  instruments 
for  Thee  to  use,  but  Thou  art  a  master  workman,  and  Thou 
canst  use  even  little  and  poor  instruments.  So  we  cast 
ourselves  upon  Thee  in  this  step  that  we  are  taking  for  Thy 
glory  and  for  the  more  rapid  advance  of  Thy  kingdom, 
and  we  pray  Thee  be  with  us.  O  Lord,  stir  our  hearts  as 
they  should  be  stirred  for  the  right  doing  of  the  work,  and 
give  us,  we  pray  Thee,  the  grace  which  we  can  no  more 
make  in  ourselves  than  that  faith  in  Thee  without  which 
it  is  impossible  to  please  Thee,  without  which  we  need  not 
try  to  ask  even  for  wisdom.  Oh,  quicken  in  us  the  trust 
in  Thee,  and  take  away  the  clouds  from  our  eyes,  the  blind¬ 
ness  that  may  hinder  our  perception  of  Thee,  our  sight  of 
Thee,  and  give  us  a  great  confidence  in  Thee.  We  trust 
Thee  for  our  own  salvation.  We  thank  Thee,  O  Lord,  that 
Thou  hast  begun  a  work  in  us  which  keeps  us  always  trust¬ 
ing  in  Thee  for  our  daily  work.  Give  us  grace  to  trust  Thee 
for  all  Thou  givest  us  to  do.  We  pray  Thee,  our,  Father, 
to  be  with  us  in  all  our  meetings,  guide  every  word  that 
shall  be  spoken,  cheer  and  comfort  and  animate  the  hearts 
of  Thy  children,  and  we  beseech  Thee  in  this  great  work 
we  are  undertaking  for  Thee,  direct  its  progress,  turn  the 
hearts  of  the  people  to  it,  stir  Thy  children  in  this  great 
city  and  in  the  land,  and  turn  the  hearts  of  Thy  children 
in  the  wide  world  to  it  that  there  may  come  with  it  and 
from  it  the  greatest  possible  blessing. 

We  ask  these  things  for  the  sakie  of  Jesus,  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

REV.  PAUL  DE  SOHWEINITZ,  D.  D.: 

There  is  one  thought  which  is  coming  to  me  which  I 
would  like  to  voice.  I  think  it  is  very  unfortunate  that  we 
make  it  appear  as  though  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  the 
Spirit’s  work  were  in  opposition  to  organization  and  ma¬ 
chinery,  or  make  the  brethren  feel  who  have  to  look  after 
all  these  component  details  as  if  that  were  not  essentially 
the  Spirit’s  work.  I  think  we  all  recognize  that  a  Confer¬ 
ence  of  this  character  cannot  accomplish  its  purpose  with- 

23 


out  the  most  careful  attention  to  the  most  minute  details, 
that  so  much  does  depend  upon  the  arrangement  of  the 
programme  and  the  selection  of  the  speakers  and  the  topics 
and  the  themes  and  the  plans  and  all  the  arrangements,  that 
without  the  greatest  care  in  all  these  particulars  its  pur¬ 
pose  will  not  be  attained,  and  I  think  we  want  to  remember 
that  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  in  addition  to  all  His  other 
attributes,  is  a  Spirit  of  counsel  and  wisdom  and  under¬ 
standing.  And  I,  for  my  part,  would  like  the  brethren 
who  have  undertaken  this  mighty  task  to  feel  and  to  realize 
in  their  hearts  that  all  this  apparently  external  work  is 
the  product  of  the  Spirit,  directing  them  and  leading  them 
to  accomplish  the  purpose  which  He  has  in  view  through 
all  this,  and  I  believe  that  our  Lord,  to  whom  we  have  been 
praying  this  morning  so  earnestly  and  fervently,  will  hear 
our  prayers  and  that  He  will  manifest  Himself  as  a  Spirit 
of  Wisdom  in  the  completion  of  the  arrangements,  so  that 
all  shall  work  smoothly  to  the  honor  of  His  glory  and  the 
furthering  of  His  kingdom. 

REV.  H.  N.  COBB,  D.  D,  (Cliai muiau)  i 

I  perhaps  ought  to  apologize  to  those  who  are  here  in 
not  having  attempted  at  all  to  give  direction  to  this  meet¬ 
ing.  There  was  a  sort  of  plan  for  it,  that  it  should  begin 
with  half  an  hour  or  so  of  devotional  exercises,  and  that 
then  the  purpose  of  it  should  be  stated  and  the  suggestions 
of  the  brethren  who  were  here  and  who  have  kindly  ac¬ 
cepted  the  invitation  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  come 
here,  should  be  invited  to  speak  upon  any  part  of  the  pro¬ 
gramme  which  is  in  preparation,  any  part  of  the  work  of  the 
Conference  on  which  they  might  be  led  to  speak.  But  if 
I  wished  for  any  evidence  myself  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is 
here,  and  has  been  leading  and  guiding  in  this  meeting, 
it  would  be  from  this  fact,  that  the  meeting  itself  has  taken 
the  direction  that  it  has.  If  I  had  made  the  statement 
which  I  had  in  mind  to  make  in  regard  to  the  work 
which  has  already  been  done  by  the  Executive  Committee 
and  the  Programme  Committee  and  the  associated  commit¬ 
tees,  the  statement  in  regard  to  the  underlying  principles 
which  have  governed  the  preparation  of  the  programme  and 
what  they  considered  to  be  the  chief  features  of  that  pro¬ 
gramme,  I  should  have  somewhat  of  necessity  brought  in  last 
what  this  meeting  has  made  first,  and  I  think  that  we  have 
taken  it  in  the  right  order.  We  have  taken  the  fundamental 
thing  and  the  indispensable  first,  and  that  is,  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  given  in  answer  to  prayer,  that  symphony 
of  prayer  of  which  Dr.  Pierson  has  spoken.  And  I  am  sure 
I  can  speak  for  the  members  of  the  Executive  Committee 
who  are  here  this  morning  and  of  the  other  committees 
that  while  we  feel,  and  I  think  we  have  reason  to  feel,  that 
we  have  not  been  altogether  without  the  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  heretofore,  we  have  honestly  and  earnestly 

24 


sought  that  guidance;  yet  I  think  we  may  say  that  we  shall 
address  ourselves  to  the  work  of  organization  and  arrange¬ 
ment — arrangement  of  topics,  arrangement  of  meetings,  se¬ 
lection  of  speakers  and  those  who  shall  make  addresses, 
and  so  forth — with  a  firmer  and  deeper  conviction  that  we 
shall  be,  even  as  we  have  not  been  before,  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  answer  to  the  prayers  that  have 
been  offered  here  and  the  prayers  that  shall  be  offered 
hereafter,  for  the  perfection  of  this  organization  which  is, 
as  has  been  said,  absolutely  necessary  to  secure  the  success 
of  the  Conference;  that  all  these  arrangements  and  all  this 
organization  shall  be  under  the  distinct  leadership  and  the 
distinct  control  and  vivified  by  the  distinct  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  we  have  not  apprehended  that  before.  And 
I  agree  with  all  those  who  have  said  that  if  we  do  not  have 
that  power,  if  we  are  not  so  guided,  and  if,  under  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  that  Spirit,  we  do  not  apprehend  Christ  as  the  cen¬ 
ter,  and  His  glory  the  object  of  all  this  work  that  we  are 
undertaking,  our  Conference,  whatever  the  world  may  think 
about  it,  or  whatever  the  Church  may  think  about  it,  will 
be  a  failure.  Brethren,  I  do  not  believe  it  is  going  to 
be  a  failure.  I  believe  it  is  going  to  be  a  success,  and  a  suc¬ 
cess  in  the  very  best  sense. 

The  Executive  Committee  and  the  other  committees 
are  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  making  and  perfect¬ 
ing,  so  far  as  possible,  the  organization  which  is  indis¬ 
pensable  for  the  execution  of  so  important  and  great  a  work. 
The  Committee  has  invited  to  meet  with  us  the  brethren 
who  are  so  kindly  here  this  morning  and  others  who  I 
hope  will  be  here  this  afternoon,  and  it  has  been  done  with 
this  view — the  invitation  has  been  given  and  these  meet¬ 
ings  have  been  appointed  with  this  view.  We  do  not  arro¬ 
gate  to  ourselves  the  possession  of  all  the  wisdom  that  can 
be  profitably  employed  in  the  preparation  of  the  programme 
and  the  other  arrangements  of  the  Conference,  and  it  has 
been  borne  in  upon  us,  if  I  may  say  so,  that  there  are  many 
others  outside  of  all  the  committees,  and  who  cannot  be 
on  committees  by  reason  of  their  other  engagements  or  the 
distance  at  which  they  reside  from  a  given  centre,  but 
whose  experience,  whose  knowledge  of  the  subject,  whose 
interest  in  the  subject,  whose  long  attention  given  to  it, 
would  be  of  infinite  value  to  us  if  we  could  only  get  pos¬ 
session  of  it.  In  the  meeting  this  afternoon  which  will  be 
convened  at  half-past  two,  while  I  trust  the  spiritual  in¬ 
fluence  and  impression  will  not  be  less  than  it  has  been 
this  morning,  even  greater,  if  God  will,  deeper,  profounder 
if  possible,  yet  I  trust  that  attention  may  be  given  to  the 
practical  parts  of  the  programme  and  the  other  work  of  the 
Conference.  & 

The  Executive  Committee  and  the  Programme  Commit¬ 
tee  wish  to  have  suggestions  in  regard  to  these  matters. 
If,  so  far  as  the  brethren  know  what  has  been  done,  they 

25 


have  any  criticisms  to  make  we  shall  be  glad  to  hear  them, 
we  shall  be  glad  to  be  instructed,  we  shall  be  glad  to  have 
all  the  light  that  we  can  get  from  all  sympathetic  sources 
whatsoever,  and  then  we  shall,  relying  upon  your  prayers 
and  the  Spirit  of  God,  seek  to  make  use  of  the  suggestions 
and  the  criticisms  that  you  may  make  for  the  perfecting 
of  the  programme  in  the  time  to  come. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION— ASSEMBLY  HALL. 

PRAYER. 

REV.  WILSON  PHRANER,  D.  D.s 

Almighty  God,  our  heavenly  Father,  we  rejoice  in 
Thee  as  our  God  and  our  Father,  the  Author  of  our  being, 
and  the  source  to  us  of  all  light  and  life  and  blessing. 
We  recognize  our  dependence  upon  Thee,  our  unworthi¬ 
ness  in  Thy  sight,  our  helplessness  aside  from  Thine  own 
help.  O  God,  look  upon  us,  Thy  servants,  assembled  in 
these  relations  at  this  time.  Thou  knowest  what  is  in 
our  minds  and  in  our  hearts.  Thou  knowest,  O  Lord,  the 
great  responsibilities  which  are  upon  us  as  representing 
Thy  Church  in  the  gathering  to  which  we  are  looking  for¬ 
ward  with  Thy  servants  in  this  city.  We  do  most  humbly, 
O  God,  from  this  beginning  of  our  assembling  ourselves  to¬ 
gether,  desire  to  put  ourselves  under  the  divine  guidance, 
praying  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  lead  us  and  direct  us  in 
all  that  is  said,  in  all  that  is  done,  in  all  that  is  planned 
and  in  all  that  is  achieved,  that  all  may  be  in  accordance 
with  Thy  holy  will  and  for  the  interest  and  promotion  of 
the  welfare  of  Thy  kingdom. 

O  Lord,  we  thank  Thee  that  Thou  dost  make  us  labor¬ 
ers  together  with  Thyself  in  the  execution  of  Thine  own 
great  purposes  of  love  and  mercy  toward  our  fallen  world 
and  sinful  race.  We  recognize  the  dignity  in  this  call  of  God 
to  be  laborers  together  with  Him.  We  thank  Thee  that 
our  lives  may  be  conformed  to  Thy  holy  will.  We  thank  Thee 
that  we  may  accept  Thy  will  as  our  will,  and  live  from  day 
to  day  seeking  to  just  do  what  God  would  have  us  do,  and 
to  leave  undone  the  things  which  He  would  have  us  leave 
undone.  In  connection  with  this  great  gathering  of  Thy 
people  to  which  we  are  looking  forward,  do  we  pray,  O 
Father,  that  Thy  blessing  may  rest  upon  these  churches, 
that  it  may  be  for  the  great  advancement  of  Thy  kingdom 
in  the  world  that  Thy  people  may  come  together  in  the 
spirit  of  the  blessed  Master,  in  the  spirit  of  unity,  in  the 
spirit  of  harmony,  in  the  spirit  of  love  one  to  another,  and 
that  further,  as  the  result  of  this  gathering  of  Thy  peo¬ 
ple,  there  may  go  forth  to  all  lands  and  throughout  all 
the  world  a  new  influence  and  power  of  the  Gospel  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


26 


REV.  S.  Li.  BALDWIN,  D.  D.: 

It  is  designed  that  the  special  subject  of  the  meeting 
this  afternoon  shall  be,  what  ought  we  to  expect  and  what 
Is  it  possible  to  secure  from  the  Ecumenical  Conference. 
That  may,  of  course,  include  some  consideration  of  what 
possible  dangers  may  be  foreseen  and  avoided,  so  as  to 
make  the  Conference  the  greatest  possible  success.  It  is 
purposed  that  there  shall  be  some  explanation  of  what 
has  already  been  done,  the  state  of  progress  that  the  work 
is  now  in  with  a  view  to  informing  those  who  are  pres¬ 
ent,  and  also  to  drawing  out  any  remarks  or  suggestions 
that  they  may  have  to  offer  that  will  be  beneficial  to  the 
Committee  in  their  further  work,  and,  as  Dr.  Cobb  said 
this  morning,  any  criticisms  that  any  feel  in  their  hearts 
to  make,  the  Committees  will  be  glad  to  have,  so  as  to  get 
all  the  light  possible  in  carrying  on  the  work  they  have 
to  do  between  this  and  the  time  of  the  Conference.  Now 
while  these  subjects  are  specially  announced,  we  do  de¬ 
sire  that  the  meeting  shall  continue  just  as  it  was  this 
morning.  I  think  we  all  felt  that  it  was,  under  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  I  have  seldom  been  in  a  meet- 
ing  of  greater  blessing. 

W7.  H.  GRANT: 

Perhaps  I  might  say  just  a  few  words  as  to  what  I 
conceive  to  be  the  object  of  our  meeting,  together  in  this 
way  to-day.  Those  of  you  who  are  away  from  New  York, 
and  those  of  you  that  are  here  right  in  the  midst  of  things, 
will  equally  realize  that  we  need  to  come  together  to  get 
into  closer  sympathy  with  the  main  movement.  There 
cannot  be  a  great  many  main  purposes  in  the  coming  con¬ 
ference  that  we  can  hold  clearly  in  our  minds,  and  we 
want  to  put  our  force,  our  united  force,  into  those  things 
upon  which  we,  practically,  all  agree.  We  can  leave  other 
things  to  come  up  incidentally,  while  we  put  our  thought 

and  effort  on  the  general  movement. 

Now,  the  great  object,  first  of  all,  of  our  coming  here 
to-day  is  to  get  on  a  mountain  top  from  which  we  may 
take  in  the  main  issues  together  at  the  same  time  and 
place.  If  you  have  had  the  experience  of  going  to  visit  a 
mission  station  and  coming  home  and  reporting  on  that 
station,  you  have  probably  found  that  forty-five  per  cent, 
discount  has  been  taken  off  of  most  of  your  report.  It  is 
largely  because  the  other  people  have  not  seen  the  thing. 
If  you  should  successively  go  to  the  same  mission  station 
and  then  come  together,  you  would  agree,  perhaps,  on  sev¬ 
enty-five  per  cent,  of  your  individual  impressions;  but  if 
you  went  together  and  saw  the  same  things  at  the  same 
time  vou  would  agree  on  about  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  your 
tapressions.  Now,  this  same  thing  is  true  with  regard  to 
the  matters  of  this  Conference.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to 
spend  the  days  and  weeks  together  that  intervene  between 

27 


now  and  April  21st  in  surveying  this  whole  field.  But  it 
will  be  a  great  help  that  we  have  come  together  once  to 
look  over  the  whole  field  and  get  the  light  of  God’s  spirit 
upon  it.  We  do  not  have  any  confusion  in  our  minds  about 
the  order  of  things  in  this  room,  because  we  all  have  the 
same  light  on  them,  and  we  all  can  see  where  everything  is. 

Now,  we  have  some  distinct  purposes  in  this  Confer¬ 
ence.  No  one  can  labor  for  it  earnestly  and  not  have  some 
objective  in  view.  There  are  several  things  of  great  im¬ 
portance  in  this  movement.  I  desire,  myself,  light  on  the 
condition  of  the  Church.  I  do  not  know  the  condition  of 
the  public  mind  toward  what  we  are  going  to  present  them. 
I  do  not  exactly  know  what  should  be  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  this  Conference  and  those  that  have  preceded  it.  I 
have  corresponded  with  men  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  have  learned  what  I  could  concerning  the  Conference 
in  London  of  1888,  but  we  want  to  get  especially,  from  the 
men  of  experience,  who  are  here  to-day,  who  have  a  broad 
view  of  the  whole  subject,  their  thought  concerning  it. 

There  may  be  some  great  features  in  the  outcome  of 
this  Conference,  perhaps  unexpected  to  us,  and  yet  we 
ought  to  look  for  God  to  do  something  more  this  year  than 
He  did  twelve  years  ago  through  the  instrumentalities 
then,  and  I  think  if  we  let  Him  work,  something  will  come 
to  pass.  Perhaps  some  of  the  things  that  I  have  in  mind 
will  seem  of  comparatively  little  importance  to  others.  I 
should  like  to  see  as  an  outcome  of  this  Conference,  a  com¬ 
mission,  as  worthy  of  our  respect  as  the  Commission  that 
met  in  Holland  to  discuss  the  peace  of  the  world;  perhaps 
a  committee  composed  largely  of  laymen  who  would  go 
around  the  world  and  make  the  same  kind  of  careful  in¬ 
vestigation  and  report,  that  they  would  on  any  other  en¬ 
terprise.  If  we  should  have  such  a  body  of  men  from 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  they  would  see  things 
that  would  be  of  immense  help  to  this  whole  movement. 
There  are  many  things  that  exist,  because  we  are  individu¬ 
ally  too  feeble  to  move  them  out  of  the  present  ruts  in 
which  they  are.  That  does  not  mean  a.  general  criticism 
of  the  Boards.  The  Boards  have  grown  up  under  certain 
conditions,  and  they  are  to  a  large  extent  helpless;  but 
any  such  united  gathering  as  we  are  to  have  in  New  York 
ought  to  result  in  some  united  movement  throughout  the 
world.  People  are  looking  for  it.  I  believe  we  could  cram 
New  York  with  laymen  if  they  felt  this  thing  meant  busi¬ 
ness,  and  I  am  sure  it  would  echo  in  every  missionary’s 
heart  throughout  the  world,  if  it  meant  business. 

I  recently  read  an  article  in  the  Philadelphia  Saturday 
Evening  Post  by  one  of  the  great  organizers  of  industrial 
trusts,  on  “Combinations  of  Capital.”  His  argument  would 

apply  just  as  well  to  the  business  of  missions  as  to  any 
other. 

We  have  had  this  morning  the  suggestion  of  what 

28 


prayer  ought  to  mean  in  this  movement.  Prayer  has,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  dropped  out  of  the  movement,  and 
ought  to  be  restored  as  central  to  it. 

There  is  one  conception  that  seems  to  me  to  be  cen¬ 
tral  and  out  of  which  a  great  deal  grows  and  develops. 
It  may  be  summed  up  in  “Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field, 
how  they  grow.”  It  is  a  divine  life  that  none  but  God  can 
implant  in  the  human  heart,  and  to  which  He  has  given  a 
life  and  development  of  its  own,  and  we  must  work  in  con¬ 
formity  with  the  lines  of  that  development  if  we  want  to 
work  with  God.  Many  of  our  operations  are  just  as  though 
the  life  were  not  there,  and  were  not  sustained  by  God. 
We  are  anxious  about  it,  and  we  superadd  to  it  many 
things  that  deter  it,  and  we  do  not  always  help  it  in  the 
right  way.  I  think  this  idea,  if  fully  carried  out,  will 
touch  every  department  of  our  work. 

A  great  many  of  the  letters  I  have  received  from  the 
field  indicate  a  fear  that  we  will  undertake  to  discuss  too 
many  details.  It  has  come  about  in  the  course  of  the  year 
that  instead  of  discussing  quite  so  many  topics  we  have 
come  to  see  more  clearly  the  topics  that  are  fundamental, 
so  that  we  are  now  preparing  the  Conference  on  the  lines 
of  the  great  principles  that  will  operate  through  the  whole 
movement. 

REIV.  JOHN  HENRY  BARROWS,  D.  D.i 

It  is  not  often  that  I  hear  people  talk  of  missions  when 
I  find  myself  agreeing  with  all  that  I  hear.  This  morn¬ 
ing  and  this  afternoon  I  have  had  that  joy  and  privilege. 

I  am  anticipating  great  results  from  this  World’s  Con¬ 
ference  of  Missions,  and  I  rejoice  that  the  Conference  is  to 
be  held  in  what  will  be  the  leading  nation  of  the  twentieth 
century,  and  in  what  will,  no  doubt,  be  the  leading  city  of 
America. 

I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  word  as  to  some  of  the 
causes  why  the  interest  in  foreign  missions  in  our  country 
is  not  so  strong  as  it  used  to  be.  I  think  pastors  are  re¬ 
sponsible  to  a  certain  extent.  You  know  when  the  pastor’s 
heart  is  on  fire  with  zeal  for  foreign  missions  and  his  mind 
is  filled  with  facts  about  it,  his  people  become  in  time  en¬ 
thusiastic.  Another  reason  why  there  is  skepticism  with 
regard  to  the  wisdom  and  the  success  of  the  world-wide 
evangelism  is  the  feeling  on  the  part  of  so  many  that 
Chrsitianity,  after  all,  has  nothing  supremely  important  to 
give  to  the  peoples  that  are  cherishing  the  faiths  of  Moham¬ 
med  and  Confucius,  and  who  have  been  trained  in  what  are 
called  the  great  and  venerable  philosophies  of  India.  Very 
frequently,  we  know,  the  globe  trotters,  and  sometimes 
American  naval  officers,  bring  back  the  report  that  they 
discover  nothing  to  praise,  and  much  to  criticise,  in  our 
missionaries  in  the  Oriental  lands.  I  should  like  to  put  to 
these  critics  a  few  questions.  Some  of  them  are  the  most 

29 


credulous  people  in  the  world.  I  remember  that  a  young 
woman  in  a  fashionable  home  in  Chicago  said  to  a  friend  of 
mine,  as  if  what  she  were  saying  could  not  be  doubted  for  a 
minute:  “Isn’t  it  a  pity  that  the  missionaries  wrought  such 
a  disastrous  work  in  Japan?  Wherever  a  mission  is  opened 
the  Japanese  find  it  necessary  to  open  a  prison,”  &c.,  &c., 
and  all  sorts  of  stuff  that  she  believed  with  a  credulity,  it 
seems  to  me,  surpassing  that  of  the  uninformed  millions  of 
India.  I  would  like  to  say  to  these  critics:  “Please  consult 
the  reports  of  those  who  have  the  opportunity  of  knowing 
the  truth.  Learn  what  the  great  statesmen  of  India  have 
said  about  missions.  One,  the  Governor-General  of  Bengal, 
three  years  ago  said,  that  he  was  not  only  the  friend  of 
Christian  missions,  but  was  looking  forward  to  the  time 
when  millions  would  be  pressing  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Even  some  of  the  non-Christian  social  reformers  of 
India  are  coming  to  realize  the  utter  impossibility  of  lift¬ 
ing  the  Hindu  millions  out  of  the  measureless  depths  of 
moral  rottenness  without  the  power  of  a  biblical  Christian¬ 
ity.  If  you  wish  to  find  the  high  examples  of  benevolence, 
you  must  look  to  Christianity  and  not  to  heathenism. 

I  would  like  to  ask  critics  such  questions  as  these:  Will 
you  please  tell  me  what  missionaries  you  came  to  knowT  per¬ 
sonally  and  to  know  so  well  that  you  would  pronounce  an 
accurate  judgment  about  them  and  their  work?  And  what 
kind  of  mission  work  do  you  find  ineffective  and  harmful? 
Do  you  disapprove  of  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  the  print¬ 
ing  of  Christian  literature  in  the  vernacular,  the  work  of 
the  dispensary,  the  work  of  the  hospital,  the  Christian 
preaching  in  the  bazaars?  If  you  never  came  to  know  one 
missionary  personally,  where  did  you  get  these  contemptu¬ 
ous  opinions  that  you  are  flinging  around? 

I  have  seen  enough  of  Christian  evangelism  in  the  Ori¬ 
ent  to  fill  me  with  joyful  hope.  I  consider  the  outlook  to 
be  magnificently  promising,  and  I  have  seen,  sir,  enough  of 
the  practical  workings  of  Buddhism,  Brahminism  and  Con¬ 
fucianism,  to  crystalize  into  adamantine  firmness  my  be¬ 
lief  in,  and  strong  conviction  of,  the  importance  of  laying 
the  sure  foundations  of  a  national  morality,  and  of  brighten¬ 
ing  earth  with  the  sure  promise  of  a  blessed  immortality. 

I  believe  that  the  three  great  evangelizers  of  the  Orient 
are  these:  Gospel  truth,  scientific  truth,  to  help  break  down 
superstition,  and  justice,  even-handed  justice  with  kindness, 
and  in  some  respects,  perhaps,  the  greatest  of  these  is  kind¬ 
ness.  A  missionary  told  me  that  the  Hindu  spirit  had  not 
been  accustomed  to  that  love  which  is  magic  and  potent. 
Christian  missions  do  not  lose  any  part  of  the  present,  and 
permanent,  influence  by  allowing  love,  that  love  which  finds 
experssion  in  cordiality  and  courtesy,  in  the  habit  and  tem¬ 
per  of  true  brotherliness,  which  is  quick  to  see  the  good  in 
persons  and  systems  which  they  have  come  to  supplant,  to 
suffuse  and  penetrate  all  their  activities. 

30 


And  then  I  believe  the  Christian  herald  and  toiler  in  the 
Orient  should  always  carry  a  distinctly  Christian  message 
and  one  centering  in  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  all  that  is  dis¬ 
tinctive  and  most  glorious  in  our  faith  is  summed  up.  He 
who  goes  to  the  Orient  to  air  his  doubts  had  better  remain 
at  home,  away  from  a  paganism  whose  horrors  and  super¬ 
stitions  ought  to  arouse  the  whole  of  Christendom.  Speak¬ 
ing  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  but  with  the 
love  that  is  quick  to  separate  things  that  are  trivial  from 
things  that  are  primary,  the  Church  will  magnify  the  power 
of  its  glorious  destiny,  and  when  our  Christian  missions  in 
the  Orient  are  backed  up  by  a  united  and  prayerful  and 
devoted  and  consecrated  Church  at  home,  still  new  glorfes 
and  triumphs  will  be  added  to  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  I  believe  we  are  on  the  epoch  of  the  greatest  of  mis¬ 
sionary  revivals,  and  I  believe  that  America  is  to  be  in  the 
forefront  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  twentieth  century. 
You  and  I  have  been  trying  to  make  some  impression  on  the 
American  people  with  regard  to  their  responsibilities  to  the 
Orient,  but  how  feeble  the  impression  of  our  words  com¬ 
pared  with  what  God  in  the  last  year  has  most  gloriously 
wrought.  Two  years  ago  our  eyes  were  fastened  on  the 
West  Indies,  upon  the  brave  insurgents,  and  we  were  think¬ 
ing  of  brothers  right  there,  and  suddenly  a  shot  was  fired 
on  the  other  side  of  the  world,  nine  thousand  miles  away, 
and  thanks  to  the  thunder  and  the  lightning  of  that  shot, 
which  came  to  us  beneath  the  seas,  old  Concord  and  Lex¬ 
ington  was  repeated,  and  our  thoughts  summoned  across 
the  ocean.  God  spoke  and  it  was  done,  and  henceforth  the 
destinies  of  the  greatest  of  the  Republics  are  linked  invisi¬ 
bly  with  the  material  and  moral  forces  of  more  than  800,000,- 
000  human  beings  on  the  other  side  of  the  world.  The  great 
event  of  the  twentieth  century,  so  soon  to  dawn,  will  be  the 
uplifting  and  uniting  of  Asia,  and  the  great  battle  of  the 
twentieth  century  will  be  between  Anglo-Saxon  civilization 
on  the  one  side,  and  the  barbarism  of  Asia  on  the  other, 
where  womanhood  is  always  and  everywhere  degraded, 
where  idolatry  and  impurity  and  dishonesty  are  almost 
universal,  and  where  the  popular  mind  has  not  been  ex¬ 
panded  and  uplifted  by  Christianity. 

REV.  DAVID  J.  BURRELL,  D.  D.: 

There  is  one  thing  in  which  the  Universal  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  interested,  and  there  is  one  thing  in  which 
it  ought  to  be  interested  ten  thousand  times  more  than  it  is, 
and  if  every  point  that  is  brought  up  in  this  Conference  is 
made  to  converge  in  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
“Go  ye,  evangelize,”  until  the  Church  shall  be  stirred  every¬ 
where  clear  around  the  horizon  to  a  vital  apprehension  of 
the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  meant  “Go  and  evangelize,”  this 
Conference  will  do  a  tremendous  amount  of  work.  If  we 
stop  short  of  that,  if  we  discuss  anything  without  making 

3i 


it  converge  upon  the  evangel,  we  will  waste  the  time  and 
the  energy  of  the  Conference  in  large  measure.  We  are  in 
Expectation  Corner,  here,  it  seems.  I  have  just  come  in  on 
the  train,  and  entered  here  to  find  the  word  “expectation’' 
confronting  me.  You  said  we  were  to  declare  what  our  ex¬ 
pectations  were  as  to  the  Conference.  I  suppose  that  we 
shall  go  too  far  if  we  expect,  brethren,  that  the  Lord  is  go¬ 
ing  to  convert  the  world  or  we  are  going  to  convert  the 
world  through  the  Conference  nowr  to  come.  But  one  thing 
God  does  expect  of  us  and  of  every  minister  of  Jesus  Christ, 
whether  he  is  in  holy  orders  or  not,  and  that  is  that  we 
shall  do  what  He  told  us  to  do,  to  go,  according  to  the  full 
measure  of  our  ability,  and  when  we  take  hold  of  the  mat¬ 
ter  and  occupy  strategic  points  and  put  the  book  accounts 
where  they  ought  to  be  and  attend  to  our  particular  busi¬ 
ness,  I  am  not  afraid  but  the  Lord  will  attend  to  His.  There 
is  such  a  thing  in  natural  history  as  catastrophism,  and  the 
history  of  a  century  is  covered  in  a  day,  and  so  there  is  in 
common  history.  The  Reformation  was  an  upheaval  of  that 
sort.  I  believe  that  when  we  who  are  to  be  in  this  Con¬ 
ference,  and  all  the  rest  of  God’s  people  on  earth  understand 
that  Jesus  Christ  meant  Go,  and  when  we  persist  in  and  do 
the  one  thing  He  told  us  to  do,  and  that  is  “Go  and 
evangelize,’’  I  think  there  will  be  some  such  upheaval  as 
that,  and  we  will  see  God  convert  the  world  rapidly,  but 
never,  brethren,  until  the  Church  is  stimulated  to  do  what 
He  told  the  Universal  Church  to  do,  to  get  up  and  go 
everywhere  and  tell  souls  the  good  news  of  the  redemption 
which  is  through  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  not  for  nothing  that 
I  have  said  these  words.  I  believe  this  Conference  has  a 
tremendous  thing  that  it  can  do,  and  that  it  ought  to  do.  The 
one  thing  it  ought  to  do  is  to  stimulate  the  Universal  Church 
not  along  ten  thousand  lines  of  detail,  but  along  one  great 
king’s  thoroughfare  that  leads  to  the  triumph  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 


REV.  C.  C.  OREEOAN,  D.  D.: 

I  for  one  am  very  grateful  to  Dr.  Burrell  for  his  re¬ 
marks.  If  we  had  come  here  to-day  to  simply  pour  words  of 
praise  on  our  splendid  Committee  of  Arrangements  and 
Committee  on  Programme,  what  advantage  would  we  have 
from  our  meeting?  Dr.  Burrell  has  put  the  thing  straight  as 
a  rifle  ball.  I  should  not  have  said  it  in  the  same  words, 
but  the  simple  fact  is  that  the  conference,  to  be  a  success, 
must  have  nothing  dry  in  it.  There  is  a  conference  com¬ 
posed  of  secretaries  and  officers  that  has  met  here  success¬ 
fully  for  seven  years,  but  if  a  programme  similar  to  that 
should  be  carried  out,  the  meetings  would  fall  dead  after  the 
first  session.  Why?  Because  we  are  specialists  who  gather  at 
that  conference,  and  we  are  intensely  interested  in  every 
single  thing  that  comes  before  us,  and  we  are  perfectly  will¬ 
ing  to  sit  for  two  and  a  half  or  three  hours  and  talk  about 


32 


things  that  would  not  interest  nine-tenths  of  the  average 
membership  of  the  churches  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn, 
who  are  about  as  pious  here  perhaps  as  they  are  in  Chicago 
and  elsewhere.  If  they  came  once,  they  would  not  come  a 
second  time.  We  are  here  to-day  to  talk  frankly.  We  are 
all  in  good  spirit.  We  have  not,  any  of  us,  a  thought  in 
our  minds  of  saying  anything  not  in  sympathy  with  what 
Dr.  Pierson  has  so  aptly  and  eloquently  said  this  morning. 
I  suppose  this  Committee  has  studied  the  question  as  to  who 
the  great  writers  are  to  be,  who  are  to  appear  on  the  pro¬ 
gramme.  But  may  I  just  throw  in  a  little  suggestion  here? 
Some  of  the  great  meetings  held  in  this  country  have  had 
some  of  their  sessions  absolutely  killed  by  having  a  great 
shcolar,  or  a  great  writer,  undertake  to  do  what  he  and 
the  committee  ought  to  have  known  he  could  not  do,  name¬ 
ly,  speak  to  two  or  three  or  four  thousand  people,  simply 
because  he  had  not  voice  enough,  and  leaving  the  impression 
that  he  was  about  as  stupid  a  man  as  ever  stood  on  a  plat¬ 
form.  There  are  those  two  things,  then.  First,  what  will 
be  best  for  the  great  public  gatherings,  and  second,  what 
is  best  where  specialists  come  together? 

What  I  want  to  emphasize  above  all  else  is  this:  That 
if  this  great  World’s  Missionary  Conference  is  a  brilliant 
success,  it  is  not  going  to  be  simply  because  Dr.  Pierson  and 
Dr.  Gracey  and  Dr.  Barrows,  and  these  other  experts  that 
really  do  not  need  this  Conference,  be  interested  in  missions, 
I  can  scarcely  imagine  their  being  interested  a  particle 
more  at  the  close  of  the  Conference  than  now;  they  are  go¬ 
ing  to  be  gratified  at  the  success  of  the  meetings;  they  are 
interested  now  up  to  the  measure  of  their  ability — it  is  not 
what  a  handful  of  us  enjoy;  the  point  is  what  will  arouse 
those  nine-tenths  of  our  churches  here  in  America  who  do 
not  care  for  foreign  missions  and  whenever  a  pastor  dares 
to  announce  that  some  one  is  going  to  speak  on  foreign  mis¬ 
sions,  conveniently  vacate  their  pews.  We  should  somehow 
make  the  Conference  such  a  brilliant  success,  especially 
those  great  meetings  held  in  Carnegie  Hall,  by  having  men 
of  true  ability  and  something  of  oratorical  gift,  that  when 
people  come  they  will  not  only  be  instructed,  but  inspired, 
and  date  their  conversion  to  foreign  missions  from  that 
time. 

REV.  WILSON  PHRANER,  D.  D.j 

I  would  like  to  add  my  testimony  to  the  Conference  in 
London.  So  far  from  its  being  dull,  it  was  one  of  the  most 
inspiring  meetings  that  it  was  ever  my  privilege  to  attend. 
The  papers  were  limited  to  twenty  minutes.  I  do  not  know 
what  the  Committee  propose  to  do  in  that  regard. 
Speeches  were  limited  to  five  minutes.  You  cannot 
have  a  very  dull  meeting  under  those  circumstances.  A 
man  that  cannot  make  his  point  in  five  minutes  had  better 
keep  still.  One  other  practical  suggestion  I  would  like  to 

33 


emphasize.  It  was  hinted  at  by  what  Dr.  Ellinwood  said 
this  morning.  The  waking  up  of  an  interest  in  all  the 
churches,  by  having  some  special  day  of  preparation  im¬ 
ploring  God’s  blessing  upon  this  Conference,  and  even 
through  my  own  church  organization  I  wish  there  might 
be  some  one  in  every  Presbytery  to  bring  this  Conference 
before  it  as  one  from  which  great  results  are  to  he 
expected,  urging  pastors  to  go  home  to  their  people,  and 
have  a  day  of  prayer.  Perhaps  it  would  be  wise  for  the 
Committee  to  name  some  particular  day  in  which  the  Church 
all  over  this  land  should  be  asked  to  pray  for  the  success 
of  this  great  meeting. 

MORN  AY  WILLIAMS,  ESQ.: 

I  want  to  make  this  suggestion -as  to  the  presiding  offi¬ 
cers  of  these  meetings.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  selection  of 
those  officers  and  the  qualities  looked  to  in  their  selection 
are  quite  as  important  as  the  qualities  of  speakers.  I  believe 
that  generally  in  a  religious  meeting,  the  amount  of  prepa¬ 
ration  given  by  the  man  who  has  the  office  of  presiding  is 
perhaps  the  most  signal  element  in  the  conduct  of  the  meet¬ 
ing.  And  it  seems  to  me  that  in  selecting  these  men  two 
or  three  qualities  in  the  men  should  be  held  in  mind.  I 
have  no  doubt  it  will  be  so  by  the  Committee  having  it  in 
charge. 

That  they  should  be  men  not  selected  so  much  for 
illustrious  names  as  for  their  real  interest  in  the  subject 
in  hand,  and  for  their  belief  that  they  and  the  meeting  are 
under  the  Divine  guidance.  They  should  be  men  who  are 
not  desirous  to  make  addresses  themselves,  and  have  suffi¬ 
cient  firmness  and  acquaintance  with  the  methods  of  con¬ 
ducting  such  a  meeting  to  confine  the  speakers,  either  the 
appointed  writers  of  papers  or  the  voluntary  speakers, 
within  the  limits.  The  man  who  has  the  firmness  and  the 
self-restraint  not  to  speak  himself  at  any  length  is  the 
right  man  to  preside. 

MIS'S  MARY  M.  PATRICK,  Ph.D.,  Constantinople: 

I  wish  to  say  only  a  few  words  not  at  all  in  the  form 
of  criticism  but  simply  a  suggestion.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  secret  of  success  in  making  any  programme  is  to  select 
as  the  subjects  of  the  different  addresses  the  strongest  points 
in  connection  with  the  general  subject  and,  therefore,  the 
subject  of  Higher  Education  as  a  mission  force  should  have 
a  very  important  place  on  the  programme,  as  I  think  it  is 
self-evident  that  higher  education  will  be  the  strongest 
Christianizing  force  of  the  new  century. 


MRS.  GUEICK,  Spain: 

The  thought  of  preparation  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
of  this  country  has  been  brought  before  us.  Theire  is  also 
the  thought  of  the  preparation  in  the  minds  and  hearts 

34 


of  the  thousands  upon  thousands  in  heathen  and  nominally 
Christian  lands  who  will  hear  of  this  Conference  and  their 
interest  in  it  will  follow  every  meeting  of  the  Conference. 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  should  keep  this  in  mind.  On 
this  programme  I  do  not  see  why  every  country  might  not 
On  this  program  I  do  not  see  why  every  country  might  not 
be  named.  I  know  full  well  that  our  Christians  in  Spain 
will  think  they  are  left  out  if  the  word  “Spanish”  does 
not  appear  somewhere  on  the  main  programme.  They  will 
wait  for  word  from  the  Conference.  A  rdsume  might  be  pre¬ 
pared  which  will  go  out  to  all  the  mission  stations,  not  tKe 
large,  two  volume  book,  but  something  which  will  give 
Christian  pastors  and  teachers  and  those  in  High  Schools 
and  educational  institutions,  who  read  English,  the  benefit 
and  blessing  which  is  sure  to  flow  out  not  only  on  New  York 
City  and  our  land  ,but  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

MRS.  MOSES  SMITH: 

I  count  it  one  of  the  privileges  of  my  journey  that  I 
am  able  to  be  here  this  afternoon.  We  are  very  much  in¬ 
terested  in  this  Conference  and  have  been  thinking  and 
talking  and  praying  about  it  and  feeling  that  we  did  not 
known  enough  about  the  plans,  about  the  details,  to  pray 
intelligently.  Yesterday  there  was  an  afternoon  meeting 
of  three  hours,  composed  of  the  ladies  of  the  different  de¬ 
nominations  of  the  city.  The  principal  subject  of  prayer 
was  the  Conference.  Now,  as  to  preparation.  If  it  can  be 
the  preparation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  if  these  Committees 
are  simply  looking  unto  God,  asking  that  the  Spirit  shall  be 
the  One  that  directs,  the  outcome  of  the  Conference  can¬ 
not  be  questioned.  Having  been  a  member  of  the  London 
Conference,  I  want  to  add  my  testimony  to  the  great  power 
of  those  meetings.  To  my  surprise  we  ladies  were  able 
to  attend  three  sessions  a  day,  and  did  not  have  nervous 
prostration.  There  was  something  in  the  uplift,  in  the 
power  of  these  meetings  that  seemed  to  keep  us  from  physi¬ 
cal  fatigue. 

MR.  CHARLES  M.  JESUP: 

An  idea  has  come  to  me  since  sitting  here,  purely  in 
the  way  of  a  suggestion  for  the  general  work  of  this  Con¬ 
ference,  and  that  is  with  special  reference  to  the  children. 
Have  they  been  asked,  will  they  be  asked,  to  co-operate  with 
the  work  of  the  various  committees  in  seeing  to  it  that 
the  Conferences  themselves  are  made  successful  from  a  finan¬ 
cial  standpoint?  I  know  that  in  almost  every  church  there 
is  a  Junior  Mission  Band.  I  know  from  actual  fact  that 
they  have  contributed  largely  to  the  foreign  mission 
funds  of  the  Boards,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  if  kthe  little 
ones  were  told  through  the  pastors  that  they  can  pull  their 
pound,  too,  and  can  help  make  this  Conference  a  success, 
that  it  will  tell  for  coming  generations.  They  will  never 

35 


forget  it.  We  must  build  for  the  future,  not  alone  for  the 
present.  Other  Ecumenical  Conferences  are  coming,  each 
one,  indeed,  with  the  blessing  of  His  presence  and  power, 
and  the  children,  must  see  that  the  strongest  point  in  mis¬ 
sion  work  is,  first,  the  baptism  of  God,  and  then  individ¬ 
ual  effort. 

MR.  GRANT: 

I  want  to  try  to  make  a  little  better  understood,  maybe, 
the  character  of  the  meetings  of  the  Conference  as  they 
are  planned,  and  the  kind  of  meetings  that  we  shall  have  in 
the  morning  in  the  main  hall.  Carnegie  Hall  will  prac¬ 
tically  seat  within  the  circle  of  those  that  will  be  considered 
regular  members  of  the  Conference,  about  2,500,  and  there 
is  no  other  hall  in  the  city  appropriate,  that  we  could  get, 
that  would  accommodate  any  more.  You  may  pack  some¬ 
thing  over  3,000  in  Carnegie  Hall,  but  you  may  count  within 
the  circle  of  the  Conference  2,500.  Now  there  have  been  al¬ 
ready  assigned  something  over  a  thousand  of  those  seats 
through  the  various  Boards  to  their  delegates,  and  a  cer¬ 
tain  amount  has  been  reserved  for  invited  guests  or  honor¬ 
ary  members  by  the  Executive  Committee,  the  rest  of  the 
room  being  allowed  for  all  the  missionaries  that  come. 

There  will  be  a  large  amount  of  time  allowed  in  the 
morning  sessions  for  discussion,  and  prompt  and  vigorous 
part  will  be  taken  by  many  speakers  from  all  over  the 
United  States  and  from  the  foreign  lands.  In  the  after¬ 
noons,  the  sessions  will  be  divided  up  into  sectional  meet¬ 
ings,  and  having  expanded  itself  into  many  churches,  the 
audience  from  New  York  and  vicinity  may  be  much  larger. 
There  will  also  be  a  large  number  of  people  who  come  here 
not  as  delegates  but  to  get  all  they  can  out  of  the  Confer¬ 
ence. 

Then  in  the  evening,  in  Carnegie  Hall  there  will  be  a  se¬ 
ries  of  great  meetings,  and  on  some  of  the  evenings  meetings 
in  Brooklyn  and  overflow  meetings  near  Carnegie  Hall.  I 
suppose  that  most  of  those  not  delegates  will  have  to  be 
satisfied  by  one  great  meeting  in  Carnegie  Hall.  But  the 
speakers  of  the  morning  sessions  can  be  heard  in  the 
churches  on  Sundays,  and  in  other  meetings  throughout  the 
city.  That  is  the  general  lay-out  of  the  programme. 

I  might  say  for  the  satisfaction  of  all  who  have  spoken 
of  the  too  great  detail  of  the  programme,  that  a  large  num¬ 
ber  of  topics  have  dropped  out  since  we  began.  They  have 
gradually  been  shaken  out  till  the  points  that  remain  are 
more  simple  and  primary,  and  I  think  you  need  have  no 
fear  that  there  will  be  such  a  multiplicity  of  detail,  that 
what  is  said  in  every  session  converge  to  a  few  main  points. 

MR.  JOHN  R.  MOTT: 

I  have  been  much  impressed  by  the  points  which  have 
been  emphasized  in  the  morning  and  afternoon  sessions 
as  to  how  we  may  get  the  most  out  of  this  great  Confer- 

36 


ence — both,  the  emphatic  points  of  a  positive  character  and 
also  the  points  of  a  negative  character,  the  various  dangers 
and  perils  to  be  avoided.  It  seems  to  me  that  all-day  meeting 
has  been  absolutely  invaluable  to  all  of  us  who  are  working 
upon  any  or  all  of  the  Committees.  I  have  had  occasion 
to  have  conversation  with  some  of  the  different  men  and 
this  has  been  the  general  impression.  I  am  constrained 
at  this  time  to  add  a  few  words  with  reference  to  ex¬ 
pectations  concerning  this  Conference,  and  I  am  led  to 
speak  upon  this  point  a  few  moments  by  what  Dr.  War- 
neck  said  to  me  in  my  interview  in  Germany  a  few  months 
ago.  I  spoke  to  him  a  little  over  a  year  ago  when  I  was 
there,  and  this  time  I  had  a  more  extended  conversation 
with  him.  He  said:  “You  are  going  to  repeat  in  America 
the  London  Conference.”  He  said  it  was  an  inspiring 
occasion,  that  it  gave  an  impulse  to  individuals,  and  in  that 
sense  doubtless  has  done  good.  “It  was  disappointing  to 
many  of  us,”  he  continued,  “in  not  leading  to  improvement 
in  methods  and  to  changes  which  we  had  a  right  to  expect.” 
It  has  an  important  bearing  on  one  or  two  things.  It  seems  to 
me  that  not  only  those  on  the  Continent,  but  more  especially 
those  from  Great  Britain,  and  still  more,  those  from  North 
America,  may  have  a  right  to  expect  very  large  things 
from  this  gathering.  Are  we  not  agreed  that  it  will  be 
a  disappointment  if  this  great  Conference  does  not  give  at 
least  these  four  great  results: 

First,  to  make  a  necessary,  a  wise  and  a  great  enlarge¬ 
ment  of  the  missionary  operations  at  the  front?  Has  not 
the  time  come,  is  not  the  need  sufficient  and  urgent  for  a 
wise  and  great — I  use  the  word  “great”  carefully — enlarge¬ 
ment  of  the  missionary  operations,  and  therefore  of  the 
number  of  properly  equipped  men  sent  to  the  front,  and  all 
the  means  to  send  them  there,  to  keep  them  there  without 
straining  the  policy  of  the  various  organizations?  Haven’t 
we  a  right  to  expect  this?  Is  there  anything,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  world  or  of  the  Church  of  God,  which 
does  not  give  us  warrant  for  such  an  expectation? 

Second.  Is  it  not  perfectly  justifiable  to  expect  that 
this  Conference  shall  mark  the  beginning  of  a  much  greater 
efficiency  in  the  work  which  is  now  in  operation  both  at 
home  and  abroad?  This  is  Dr.  Warneck’s  principal  point. 
He  believes  that  there  is  great  need  of  improvement  in  the 
methods  of  organization.  He  said:  “We  need  no  more  or¬ 
ganizations.”  We  all  agree  to  that.  “But  we  need  a  more 
careful  co-ordination  of  organizations,  and  what  might  be 
more  truly  called  a  science  of  missions,  and  it  will  be  a  keen 
disappointment  to  me,”  he  says,  “if  this  Conference  does  not 
mark  progress  in  this  vital  direction.” 

Third.  It  would  seem  that  there  is  great  need  that  this 
Conference  shall  mark  the  beginning  of  a  more  real,  there¬ 
fore  a  more  vital  unity  among  the  various  missionary  forces 

37 


of  the  world;  and  her©  let  me  allude  to  the  point  that  I  be¬ 
gan  with  that  the  Continent  is  looking  with  critical  eyes 
upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  methods  due  to  misunderstanding. 
I  hope  this  Conference,  among  other  things,  will  tend  to  es¬ 
tablish  confidence  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders  of  the  Con¬ 
tinental  Societies. 

Fourth.  Then,  growing  out  of  these  three  expectations, 
is  that  other  one  which  is  the  objective  of  all  this  work,  that 
the  Conference  might  mark  the  beginning  of  a  far  more 
fruitful  period  in  the  life  of  the  missionary  enterprises.  It 
will  be  the  essential  and  inevitable  result  of  these  other 
things.  Some  one  might  at  once  object  and  say,  “This  Con¬ 
ference  is  not  a  deliberative  body.  Can  we  grapple  with 
these  questions  that  have  a  bearing  on  the  enlargement  of 
the  force  and  the  increase  of  the  efficiency  and  the  promo¬ 
tion  of  actual  unity?  Can  we  do  such  things?”  To  my 
mind,  we  can  do  it  much  more  effectively  than  if  we  were  a 
deliberative  body. 

If  a  number  of  our  Committee,  men  of  influence  could  be 
left  so  free  during  those  days  that  they  would  have  nothing 
else  to  do  but,  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  to 
help  work  toward  this  great  objective,  might  we  not  expect 
a  large  fruitage? 

The  old  Williams  Haystack  Constitution  had  this 
clause  in  it:  “To  establish  in  the  person  of  its  members  a 
mission  or  missions  to  the  heathen” — it  would  seem  to  me 
that  this  Conference  ought  to  have  before  it  all  the  while 
that  objective,  that  it  is  a  failure  if  it  does  not  establish  in 
the  person  of  a  large  multitude  more  missions  to  the  heath¬ 
en,  properly  co-ordinated,  and  that  will  gather  up  at  once 
into  themselves  the  best  experience  of  the  last  100  years. 

DR.  BALDWIN" : 

When  Bishop  McCabe  was  Secretary  he  sometimes 
chafed  because  some  things  could  not  be  done  under  the 
Constitution.  And  he  said:  “Let’s  get  up  a  new  Constitu¬ 
tion.”  And  I  said:  “Very  well,  proceed;  you  go  ahead  and 
I’ll  do  the  writing.”  So  he  started.  The  first  clause  was: 
‘‘Article  First.  Whatever  ought  to  be  done  can  be  done.” 
And  I  wrote  that  down,  and  I  said  to  him:  “Why,  Chap¬ 
lain,  it  seems  to  me  you  don’t  need  any  other  article  in  that 
Constitution.”  Well,  he  said,  he  guessed  not;  that  would  do. 
And  that  was  our  new  Constitution  for  the  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety,  and  I  hope  the  Committees  will  be  able  to  see,  as  the 
matter  progresses,  that  whatever  ought  to  be  done  can  be 
done,  and  take  a  little  liberty  accordingly. 

RBIV.  PAUL  DE  SCHWEINITZ: 

May  I  ask  whether  time  will  be  given  in  the  discussions 
of  the  Conference  to  the  subject  of  methods,  if  I  may  say  so, 
of  aiding  the  native  churches  in  that  transition  period 
which  has  been  reached  by  some,  so  that  they  may  soon 

38 


reach  self-support  in  men  and  means?  With  us,  at  least,  the 
problem  is  acute  in  more  fields  than  one,  and  if  light  can  be 
thrown  upon  this  subject,  I  think  an  important  gain  will 
have  been  achieved. 

DR.  BALDWIN: 

It  is  intended  that  that,  among  other  things,  shall  come 
out  in  the  sectional  meetings. 

REV.  J.  T.  GOUCHEB,  D.  D.,  Baltimore: 

We  thank  Thee,  our  Father,  that  as  we  meet  together  to 
consult  concerning  the  influences  that  may  reach  out  tow¬ 
ard  the  world  to  lift  it  closer  to  Thyself,  that  we  know  we 
are  in  harmony  with  Thy  purpose,  we  are  but  answering  the 
call  of  Thy  Spirit  to  be  laborers  together  with  Thee;  that 
our  coming  together  is  not  to  advertise  our  fitness  for  the 
work,  but  to  confess  our  need  of  special  preparation,  and  we 
come  here  this  afternoon  asking  Thee,  our  Father,  that 
Thou  wilt  give  us  more  of  Thy  Spirit,  that  Thou  wilt  clarify 
our  vision,  that  Thou  wilt  give  us  a  richer  impulse  toward 
humanity,  that  Thou  wilt  enable  us  to  confer  together  that 
we  may  have  the  added  wisdom  which  comes  from  the  va¬ 
ried  experiences  of  those  that  are  here;  that  we  may  hav® 
the  guidance  of  Thy  Spirit,  that  we  may  wisely  plan  so  that 
that  chief  purpose  may  indeed  be  according  to  Thy  purpose, 
and  its  outcome  to  Thy  glory.  We  pray  Thee  for  the  special 
manifestation  of  Thy  Spirit  not  only  in  this  company,  but  to 
abide  in  our  individual  hearts.  We  pray  that  Thou  wilt  pre¬ 
side  not  only  over  these  deliberations,  but  wherever  a  Com¬ 
mittee  convenes,  that  Thou  wilt  be  there  to  give  direction  to 
the  thought  that  the  outcome  may  be  to  Thy  purpose. 
Wherever  one  who  hath  heard  the  call  to  be  Thy  servant 
thinks  upon  the  world’s  redemption,  that  Thou  wilt  guide 
his  thought  aright;  that  Thou  wilt  bring  to  him  such  a  de¬ 
sire  to  know  the  facts  not  only  of  that  which  has  been  ac¬ 
complished,  but  the  difficulties  which  have  confronted  the  at¬ 
tempt;  that  we  may  gather  experience,  that  we  may  gather 
knowledge,  that  we  may  widen  the  application,  that  we  may 
be  made  efficient.  And  we  pray  Thee,  Father,  that  Thou 
wilt  grant  that  as  this  great  Convention  is  to  have  such  a 
wide  reaching  influence,  that  it  may  be  deep  in  the  thought 
and  sympathy  of  those  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  that  the 
prayers  may  come  up  from  all  lands,  from  all  branches  of 
the  Church,  from  every  mission  field,  from  every  organiza¬ 
tion  that  has  as  its  object  the  extension  of  Thy  kingdom. 
Oh,  may  it  fill  the  hearts  of  Thy  people  that  it  may  not  be  in 
vain,  but  that  the  opportunity  may  be  of  Thy  appointment 
and  occupied  according  to  Thy  purpose;  and  as  the  dele¬ 
gates  come  together,  we  pray  Thee,  grant  as  they  tread  the 
continents  and  the  seas  they  may  have  converse  one  with 
another,  and  may  bring  the  fire  so  that  the  world’s  attention 
may  be  arrested  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  Conference  con- 

39  i 


cerning  divine  things  that  has  as  its  purpose  a  broadening 
sympathy  to  gather  in  all  the  world  to  the  fold  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  And  we  pray  Thee  grant  that  the  outcome 
may  be  a  quickening  of  interest,  a  deepening  of  sympathy, 
a  broadening  of  vision,  a  unification  of  effort,  a  bringing  men 
to  Thee  through  a  consciousness  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
work  and  the  helplessness  of  the  workers,  so  that  there 
shall  be  a  looking  to  Thee  for  guidance  and  power.  That 
the  delegates  may  be  quickened  and  strengthened  and  carry 
with  them  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  rekindle  on  the 
altars  of  their  hearts  a  burning  and  consuming  flame.  And 
let  the  reflex  influence  on  this  land  be  quickening  and 
broadening  and  deepening,  and,  we  pray  Thee,  grant  that 
from  next  April  there  may  date  a  new  era  in  the  extension 
of  missions  that,  as  the  present  has  been  a  century  of  ex¬ 
periment  and  endeavor,  the  future  may  be  a  century  of  ac¬ 
complishment,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  uplifting  of  hu¬ 
manity.  We  ask  it  for  Jesus’  sake.  Amen  . 


EVENING  SESSION— ASSEMBLY  HALL. 

PRAYER. 

DR.  A.  S.  LLOYD  j 

The  Lord’s  Prayer.— Almighty  God,  who  hast  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth,  grant  unto  all  men  everywhere  that  they  may 
seek  after  Thee  and  find  Thee.  Bring  the  nations  under 
Thy  feet  and  add  the  heathen  to  Thine  inheritance,  and 
hasten  the  time  when  Thou  shalt  accomplish  the  number  of 
Thine  elect  and  establish  Thy  kingdom,  and  to  these  Thy 
servants  into  whose  heart  Thou  hast  put  it  that  they  may 
take  counsel  together  for  the  building  up  of  Thy  kingdom, 
grant  unto  them  by  the  Holy  Ghost  that  they  may  have 
the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  of  power  and  a  right  mind,  that 
they  may  do  all  things  for  the  building  up  of  Thy  king¬ 
dom  and  for  the  glorifying  of  Thy  holy  name  and  for  the 
welfare  of  Thy  church,  all  of  which  we  ask  through  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord.  Amen. 

The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  love  of  God  and 

the  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  with  us  all  evermore. 
Amen. 

HO'JT.  SETH  LOW,  Chairman! 

This  meeting  has  been  called  for  the  purpose  of  telling 
about,  and  awakening  interest  in  the  proposed  Ecumenical 
Conference  of  Foreign  Missions  which  is  to  be  held  in  this 
city,  in  the  month  of  April.  At  a  time  of  such  abounding 
prosperity,  at  a  time  when  man  is  so  greatly  increasing  his 
knowledge  of  natural  law,  and  by  that  knowledge  extending 
his  dominion  over  nature,  surely  there  is  nothing  that 
Christian  people  can  do  which  is  more  timely  than  to  bear 

40 


witness  to  the  eternal  truth  that  the  things  that  are  seen 
are  temporal,  and  it  is  only  the  things  which  are  not  seen 
which  are  eternal.  In  the  last  part  of  this  century,  also, 
Christian  people  have  been  called  upon  to  reshape  to  a  great 
extent  all  of  their  thoughts  of  God,  at  least  so  far  as  they 
bear  upon  His  operations  in  the  visible  universe.  It  seems 
to  me  like  the  time  when  Copernicus  lived,  and  made  men 
believe  for  the  first  time  that  the  earth  went  round  the  sun, 
instead  of  thinking  as  they  had  thought,  that  the  sun  went 
round  the  earth.  Men  had  believed  a  falsehood  that  seemed 
to  be  true  for  many  centuries.  When  they  came  to  realize 
the  truth,  for  a  long  time  it  shook  their  faith  in  things 
that  had  seemed  to  them  everlastingly  true.  Just  so  in  our 
day  with  the  progress  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  and  with 
the  growing  faith  in  the  doctrine  not  as  a  demonstrated 
body  of  teaching,  but  as  a  working  theory  many  men  have 
found  their  beliefs  shaken  in  things  that  seemed  to  be  most 
sure.  At  such  a  time,  therefore,  it  seems  to  me  that  Chris¬ 
tian  people  can  do  nothing  better  than  to  bear  testimony 
in  a  striking  way  to  their  belief,  after  all,  that  the  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  still  showeth 
His  handiwork;  that  the  sea  is  His,  and  He  made  it;  that 
the  earth  is  the  Lord’s,  and  the  fullness  thereof.  So  this 
is  a  time  in  which  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  coming 
to  know  more  of  each  other  than  they  have  ever  known 
before.  The  happenings  of  yesterday  in  Japan,  in  China, 
and  in  India,  as  well  as  in  Europe  and  in  Africa  were  known 
in  our  city  this  morning.  So  the  happenings  of  to-day  will 
be  known  to-morrow.  With  all  that  growing  intimacy  and 
acquaintance,  I  think  men  have  also  grown  to  realize  that 
God  has  not  left  Himself  without  witnesses,  even  in  lands 
that  we  are  accustomed  to  think  of  as  heathen  lands.  And 
yet,  what  can  Christians  do  better,  in  such  a  time  as  this, 
than  to  bear  their  unshaken  testimony  to  their  belief  that 
there  is  no  other  name  under  heaven,  whereby  men  must 
be  saved,  but  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ?  The  only  name 
whereby  man,  as  an  individual,  can  be  redeemed  from  the 
lower  life  to  the  highest,  the  only  name  whereby  man  in 
society  can  emerge  from  the  condition  of  constant  struggle 
merely  for  existence  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God?  How  can  we  do  any  of  those  things,  how  can  we 
do  all  those  things,  better  than  through  a  great  Confer¬ 
ence  devoted  to  foreign  missions?  Those  who  are  to  follow 
me  will  tell  you  more  in  detail  of  the  plans  of  this  Confer¬ 
ence.  One  something  like  it  was  held  in  1888  in  England, 
and  one  ten  years  before  that,  in  1878.  This  is  the  first  of 
these  Conferences  which  at  least  unites  all  of  Protestant 
Christendom,  to  be  held  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
This  meeting  is  called  in  order  to  interest  the  Christian 
people  of  New  York  in  this  coming  Conference,  and  through 
their  interest  to  secure  their  aid.  I  am  sorry,  for  those 
who  have  had  the  management  of  the  meeting,  that  it 

4i 


chances  to  fall  upon  so  wet  a  night.  But  as  I  look  out  upon 
the  people  wrho  are  here,  I  cannot  help  recalling  something 
that  Moody  said  on  the  last  occasion  on  which  I  ever  heard 
him  speak.  He  was  speaking  of  Gideon  and  his  work,  how 
he  said  to  the  Lord  that  he  had  too  few  men,  and  the  Lord 
said  to  him,  “No,  Gideon,  you  have  too  many.  Let  every  one 
go  home  who  has  married  a  wife,  and  is  fearful,  and  who 
has  not  his  heart  in  this  enterprise.”  And  so  a  great  many 
left  him.  And  when  Gideon  continued  on  his  way  toward 
the  enemy,  he  was  surprised  to  he  told  again,  “Gideon,  you 
have  got  too  many  men.  Now,  send  back  to  their  homes 
every  man  who  stops  to  drink  at  this  brook  that  you  are 
coming  to,  for  they  have  not  got  the  real  heart  of  the  work. 
Any  man  that  has  so  much  interest  that  he  has  not  got  time 
to  stop  to  drink,  but  as  he  walks  through  the  water  laps  it 
up  with  his  hand,  if  you  have  only  a  handful,  those  are  the 
only  men  with  whom  you  must  win  the  battle.”  And  so  it 
seems  to  me  that  so  far  from  having  occasion  to  be  regretful 
that  this  meeting  has  been  held  on  such  a  stormy  night,  we 
ought  to  thank  God  and  take  courage  that  there  are  so 
many  people  here  ready  to  put  their  hand  and  heart  to  this 
work,  and  to  carry  it  through  to  complete  success. 

I  have  now  the  very  great  pleasure  of  introducing  Dr. 
Gracey  who  will  speak  to  you  more  in  detail  about  this 
Conference. 


DR.  J.  T.  GRACEY: 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  asked  to  speak  on  “Why  an  Ecu¬ 
menical  Conference?”  I  am  not  expected  to  crush  Olympus 
into  a  nut  shell. 

The  very  scenic  effect  will  tend  to  kindle  enthusiasm. 
There  will  be  men  there,  and  women,  too,  from  almost  every 
quarter  of  the  known  globe.  Sturdy  Britishers  and  Scotch¬ 
men;  men  from  the  land  of  Tholuck  and  Krumacher  and 
Btier,  men  from  the  land  of  John  Calvin,  men  from  little 
Denmark  and  Sweden  and  Norway.  There  will  be  men  here 
to  tell  us  about  the  Levant  and  what  is  going  on  in  that  part 
of  the  Mohammedan  wrorld.  There  will  be  men  here  from 
China,  from  beyond  the  great  wall  of  the  North  to  the 
Yangtse  in  the  center  and  the  sea  on  the  South;  they  will 
come  from  Japan,  that  other  Britain  of  the  Pacific  seas,  and 
from  the  land  of  the  “Morning  Calm.”  There  will  be  here 
the  successors  of  Carey  and  Judson  and  Wilson  and  Duff. 
There  will  be  men  here  from  the  Cape  to  Cairo  in  Africa; 
poor,  down-trodden  Africa,  the  land  that  furnished  him  of 
Cyrene  to  bear  the  cross  of  the  Saviour,  and  that  has  borne 
every  other  cross  and  every  other  curse  known  to  human 
history.  There  will  be  men  here  from  the  Islands  of  the 
Seas;  from  the  mines  and  the  mountains  of  Mexico  and  the 
balls  of  the  Montezumas;  from  the  broad  bosom  of  the 
Amazon  and  the  silver  La  Platte.  Think  of  it.  An  Ec¬ 
umenical  Conference!  Why  the  very  word  ought  to  fur- 

42 


nish  an  inspiration.  We  shall  get  information  as  well  as 
inspiration,  for  these  men  will  tell  us  what  has  been  done, 
and  of  the  mighty  struggles  in  which  they  are  engaged. 

I  trust  we  will  get  an  increased  solidarity  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  forces  in  the  world.  I  know  that  as  separate  bodies 
we  have  been  quite  too  much  studying  the  “origin  of  spe¬ 
cies,”  until  we  are  saturated  more  or  less  with  our  de- 
nominationalism.  Now  all  these  denominations  represent 
history.  They  each  stand  for  an  idea,  and  they  represent 
appetences.  Methodists  can  do  some  things  better  than 
Presbyterians;  Presbyterians  can  do  some  things  better 
than  Baptists;  Baptists  can  do  some  things  better  than 
Episcopalians.  But  we  want  to  find  out  without  sacrificing 
any  of  our  individuality  the  mighty  idea  back  of  that  de- 
nominationalism.  We  want  to  find  out  how  to  adjust  these 
into  a  mighty  solidarity.  After  Magenta  the  army  of  France 
and  Italy  had  to  march  through  a  great  forest  of  low  trees. 
The  men  could  not  see  each  other;  only  a  few  hundreds 
on  either  side.  They  were  depressed,  but  they  deployed  out 
into  the  great  plain,  and  hundreds  and  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  them  were  put  into  line  of  battle  and  as 
their  bayonets  bristled  in  the  sun,  they  gathered  mighty 
courage.  They  were  just  as  near  to  each  other  an  hour 
before.  There  were  just  as  many  of  them,  but  they  did  not 
feel  the  thrill  and  the  inspiration  of  the  mighty  multitude. 
The  next  day  was  Solferino!  So  I  think  we  will  get  closer 
together  and  begin  to  ask  what  there  is  that  we  can  do, 
not  in  divisions  only  but  as  a  solid  army. 

What  tasks  there  are  for  united  Christendom! 

If  there  ever  was  a  period  in  human  history  when  men 
ought  to  be  impressed  with  the  times  and  the  tasks,  it 
seems  to  me  it  is  now.  The  Honorable  Chairman  made 
reference  to  it.  There  are  periods  of  great  religious  per¬ 
turbation.  Recall  for  a  moment  some  of  these.  How  many 
millions  of  minds  does  Confucianism  dominate?  How  many 
does  Buddhism  influence?  How  many  has  Zoroastrianism 
swayed?  Yet  all  three  of  these  mighty  lettered  religions 
may  be  said  to  have  been  born  at  once.  Again:  when  Mar¬ 
tin  Luther,  with  a  little  book  and  a  beating  heart,  was  up¬ 
heaving  all  Europe,  Lamaism  was  born  up  in  the  Himalayas 
and  the  Sikh  religion  in  the  Punjab.  Mighty  throes.  Simul¬ 
taneous  though  widely  separated  phenomena.  No  man 
planned  them.  They  were  in  the  mighty  providence  of  God. 

We  stand  in  just  such  a  period  of,  I  may  say,  universal 
perturbation.  All  human  creeds  are  thrown  to  the  surface 
for  re-examination.  Men  are  stirred  and  moved  as  if  by  an 
eathquake,  or  a  West  India  hurricane;  even  Christendom  is 
casting  its  thought  into  a  crucible  as  if  to  find  out  what 
is  pure  gold  in  it,  reformulating  what  is  necessary,  and  the 
whole  world  at  this  hour  seems  a  witch’s  cauldron,  with  its 

43 


“Bubble,  bubble. 

Toil  and  trouble.” 

Is  it  for  such,  times  that  we  have  come  to  the  kingdom? 

I  think  we  will  find  a  very  great  deal  to  consider,  upon 
which  our  solidarity  may  be  brought  to  bear.  In  India 
Mr.  Hunter  tells  us  there  are  fifty  millions  of  people,  who, 
within  the  next  fifty  years,  will  become  Hindus,  Moham¬ 
medans  or  Christians.  They  are  neither  now.  Fifty  mil¬ 
lions  of  people  that  are  standing  to-night  in  line  before 
the  altars  of  the  Christian  Church,  hundreds,  thousands, 
tens  of  thousands  asking  for  baptism.  Bishop  Thoburn 
tells  us  he  could  baptize  100,000  or  150,000  in  a  few  months 
if  he  only  had  the  instructors  to  care  for  them  afterward. 
These  descendants  of  the  aborigines  of  India  are  pleading, 
imploring  that  you  will  receive  them  into  the  Christian 
Church.  On  the  other  hand  the  brain,  of  India  is  burning 
with  new  thoughts.  Cultivated  men  who  speak  English  per¬ 
fectly,  in  large  numbers  are  saying,  “Away  with  your  Chris¬ 
tian  Churches.  Churches  that  anathematize  each  other, 
that  are  flying  at  each  other’s  throats.  Away  with  the  mis¬ 
sionaries.  Give  us  your  Christ  and  give  us  His  Gospel.” 
I  ask  you  to  look  at  those  two  great  strata  of  India.  What 
to  do  with  this  situation  is  not  a  Presbyterian  problem; 
it  is  not  a  Methodist  problem;  it  is  not  an  Episcopal  prob¬ 
lem;  it  is  not  a  Baptist  problem;  it  is  not  a  British  prob¬ 
lem;  it  is  not  a  German  problem;  it  is  not  a  problem  of 
the  United  States.  It  is  a  problem  for  solid  Christendom. 
We  are  not  going  to  get  our  solidarity  any  too  soon,  to  grap¬ 
ple  with  the  mighty  problems  which  are  before  the  Christian 
Church  to-day,  of  which  this  is  only  just  a  little  illustra¬ 
tion. 

Well,  we  are  going  to  get  this  inspiration  from  the  num¬ 
bers.  We  are  going  to  get  this  information.  WTe  are  going 
to  grapple,  in  thought,  at  least,  with  the  great  times  in 
which  we  are  cast,  and  the  mighty  problems  which  are  be¬ 
fore  us.  We  are  going  to  start  all  this,  and  I  do  hope  we 
are  going  to  start  a  campaign  of  education  all  over  the 
United  States  which  shall  reach  into  the  very  canyons  of  the 
West,  all  over  Europe,  all  over  the  world.  I  hope  we  will 
give  the  impulse  to  the  mightiest  educational  missionary 
campaign  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Now  just  one  thought  more.  I  have  asked  myself  so  of¬ 
ten,  Well,  what  is  this  all  about?  What  does  it  all  come  to? 
Look  at  Christendom.  The  world  has  never  yet  seen  a 
Christian  Church.  The  world  has  never  yet  seen  a  Chris¬ 
tian  nation.  What  does  it  all  come  to? 

I  look  at  the  inconsistencies  and  the  selfishness  of 
Christian  people,  and  I  say,  “Is  this  the  flower?  Is  this 
what  I  am  trying  to  reproduce?  Is  this  the  best  there  is?” 
And  I  sometimes  get  quite  discouraged  and  think  if  I  can 
turn  out  no  better  results  than  this  “the  game  is  hardly 
worth  the  candle.”  And  then  I  turn  round  and  think  of 

44 


this  poor  world,  beaten,  bruised,  battered,  trodden  down, 
mastered  by  sin. 

I  think  one  thing  we  will  get  out  of  this  great  Confer¬ 
ence  is  a  conviction  that  with  all  the  inconsistencies  of  the 
Church,  with  all  the  deficiencies  of  Christendom,  that  after 
all  Jesus  Christ  is  the  last  hope  of  this  world;  that  in  pub¬ 
lic  or  in  private,  there  is  not  discoverable  anything  which 
gives  any  basis  of  hope  that  the  world  shall  rise  out  of  its 
dead  past,  but  the  principles  which  Jesus  Christ  enunciated, 
the  moral  standards  which  He  erected  and  the  laws  which 
He  formulated. 

I  quite  understand  that  the  ultimate  precipitate  has 
not  yet  been  realized,  and  yet  I  know  to-day  that  the  trend 
of  internationalism  is  to  the  principles  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  kings  and  emperors,  persons  in  private  life  and  in 
public  life,  in  legislative  halls,  in  church  councils,  in  social 
life,  in  the  family,  are,  one  and  all  of  them,  whether  they 
confess  Christ  or  curse  Him,  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  Christendom,  and  largely  beyond  that,  meas¬ 
uring  human  conduct  according  as  it  conforms  to  or  di¬ 
verges  from  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  understand 
very  well  that  Jesus  Christ  has  become  the  one  great,  ma¬ 
jestic  Monarch  of  men,  and  that  men  are  obliged  to  con¬ 
cede  the  principles  of  His  kingdom.  I  know  very  well  that 
the  one  hope  of  humanity  to-night  is  this  Gospel  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

If  we  do  not  do  anything  else  in  the  Ecumenical  Con¬ 
ference,  we  will  get  up  a  great  Jericho  shout— we  will  shout 
knowing  that  the  triumph  is  coming.  We  will  start  it  and 
cry  out  in  the  words  of  John  Milton: 

“Come  forth  from  Thine  invisible  chambers,  O  Thou 
Prince  of  Peace,  of  all  the  earth;  clothe  Thyself  with  the 
garments  of  Thy  imperial  majesty.  Take  in  Thy  hand  Thy 
unlimited  sceptre,  for  Thy  bride  expects  Thy  coming,  and 
all  nature  waits  to  be  renewed.” 

MR.  LOWt 

I  sometimes  think  that  the  Light  that  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world  is  like  the  white  light  of 
the  sun  by  which  we  live.  It  is  possible,  you  know,  to  take 
that  white  light  of  the  sun  and  to  break  it  up  into  its  constit¬ 
uent  parts.  By  the  study  of  the  solar  spectrum  men  learn 
the  composition  of  bodies  heavenly  and  terrestrial.  I  think 
sometimes  that  the  divisions  of  Christendom  have  that  re¬ 
lation  with  the  white  light  of  the  world.  At  Chicago  I  saw 
an  apparatus  which  was  intended  to  take  these  colored 
lights  and  reunite  them  into  a  single  beam  of  white  light. 
That,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  great  service  that  missionary 
endeavor  may  do  for  the  Christian  Churches.  This  Con¬ 
ference  is  Ecumenical,  as  Dr.  Gracey  has  said,  because  it 
is  concerned  with  the  whole  world.  So  far  as  Protestant¬ 
ism  is  concerned,  it  is  Ecumenical  because  all  Protestant 

45 


Christendom  is  to  take  part  in  it.  I  trust  that  it  is  also 
ecumenical  prophetically,  as  looking  forward  to  that  happy 
day  that  may  yet  come,  when  all  of  Christendom,  Eastern 
and  Western,  the  Eastern  Church,  our  Roman  Catholic 
brethren,  and  Protestants  alike,  may  recognize  the  common 
purpose  for  which  they  exist,  and  by  fusing  their  different 
colored  rays,  do  something  to  reflect  in  the  world  that  great 
White  Light  which  is  intended  to  light  every  man  that 
cometh  into  it. 

THE  ORGANIZATION. 

MORN  AY  WILLIAMS,  ESQ.s 

It  is  so  self  evident  and  so  trite  a  saying  that  we  live 
in  the  day  of  organization,  that  I  almost  apologize  for  call¬ 
ing  that  fact  to  your  attention.  But  I  want  that  you  should 
remember  that  organization  is  more  and  more  becoming 
symbolized  by  organism;  that  as  the  organizations  become 
more  and  more  numerous  in  their  functions,  they  become 
in  their  complexity  related  to  organism.  Now  the  demon¬ 
strator  who  has  to  speak  of  the  human  organism,  and  who 
takes  one  particular  branch  of  it  is  called  the  osteologist, 
and  as  an  osteologist  of  this  organism,  I  am  here  to-night  to 
treat  entirely  of  the  bony  structure  of  the  Conference  which 
is  to  be  held. 

It  is  necessary  that  there  should  be  this  bony  structure 
if  the  Conference  is  to  accomplish  its  work.  It  is  not, 
however,  a  very  inviting  subject,  it  may  seem.  The  bony 
structure  of  any  organism  such  as  this  consists  of  a  number 
of  committees.  Some  one  has  observed,  more  wittily,  per¬ 
haps,  than  wisely,  that  “Committee  is  a  noun  of  multitude, 
consisting  of  many  but  not  signifying  much.”  Neverthe¬ 
less,  in  the  process  of  organization  it  is  becoming  evident 
that  the  committee  is  the  way  in  which  men  formulate 
united  action.  Consequently,  those  who  have  brought  this 
Conference  together  have  divided  its  work  and  divided  it 
wisely,  we  believe,  into  a  large  number  of  Committees,  each 
having  their  separate  functions.  There  is  the  Committee  on 
Halls,  the  Committee  on  Programme,  the  Committee  on  Pop¬ 
ular  Meetings,  the  Committee  on  Press  and  Publication,  the 
Committee  on  Hospitality,  the  Committee  on  Finance,  and 
these  various  committees  are  sub-divided. 

I  am  not  going  to  burden  you,  in  the  very  few  moments 
that  I  have  to  make  my  announcement,  with  a  full  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  work  of  these  various  committees.  The  purpose, 
I  suppose,  of  speaking  of  them  at  all  is  to  call  your  attention 
to  the  magnitude  of  the  task  that  is  before  us.  We  are, 
as  you  have  already  been  told,  expecting  to  receive  large 
numbers  of  delegates  from  all  portions  of  the  known  world 
in  this  Ecumenical  Conference.  In  order  that  the  sessions 
may  be  arranged  so  that  the  widest  opportunity  may  be 
given  for  attendance  and  information  on  the  part  not  only 
of  the  people  of  this  metropolis,  but  on  the  part  of  those 

46 


who  come  from  distant  parts  of  our  own  land  and  other 
lands,  it  is  necessary  that  the  meetings  themselves  should 
be  sub-divided;  that  there  should  be  some  meetings  which 
are  particularly  intended  for  the  popular  presentation  of  the 
main  thoughts  that  bring  this  Conference  together.  There 
are  to  be  sectional  conferences  where  the  details  which 
cannot  be  considered  in  the  large  meetings  are  to  be  pre¬ 
sented.  It  is  necessary  in  order  that  this  may  be  done  that 
some  men  should  charge  themselves  especially  with  the 
arrangements  for  the  halls  for  the  exhibit  that  is  to  be  given 
of  the  progress  already  made  in  foreign  missions,  presented 
through  curious  and  historical  mementoes  of  the  history  of 
missions  thus  far.  All  of  these  things  must  be  detailed  to 
various  committees,  and  so  already  men  and  women  have 
been  enlisted  in  this  work,  and  have  been  quietly  but  united¬ 
ly  working  for  some  time  to  arrange  for  this  great  meeting. 

Now,  what  is  to  make  all  these  “dry  bones”  live?  That, 
my  brethren,  is  the  one  question  that  has  called  this  par¬ 
ticular  meeting  together.  What  is  to  make  these  dry  bones 
live?  There  is  only  one  power  that  can  take  the  skeleton 
of  a  committee,  that  can  take  the  artificial  work  of  man, 
and  make  out  of  it  a  living  organism,  and  that  is  the  power 
that  the  Prophet  felt  when  there  breathed  over  the  valley  of 
bones  the  Spirit  of  the  Living  God,  and  that  power  resides 
on  earth  in  God’s  people.  The  responsibility  for  the  work 
of  your  committees  resides  with  you.  If  you  and  I  are  in 
the  spirit,  if  you  and  I  have  come  together  determined  that 
the  work  wisely  planned  must  receive  God’s  blessing,  be¬ 
cause  of  our  prayers  and  our  communion  with  Him,  if  the 
white  light,  to  use  the  felicitous  metaphor  of  our  Chairman, 
is  to  be  visible  to  those  who  come  up  to  attend  this  great 
Ecumenical  Conference,  it  must  be  because  the  colored 
light  of  your  own  heart  has  united  by  the  electric  current 
of  God’s  Spirit  with  the  light  of  anoth'er  heart,  and  you  to¬ 
gether,  unitedly,  have  prayed  and  agonized  that  the  work 
devised  and  carried  on  in  detail  by  many,  should  be  the 
work  of  only  One.  For,  0,  my  brethren,  the  sweetest  thought 
to  me  of  all  the  thoughts  of  God,  I  think,  is  this:  Said  the 
great  Apostle,  St.  John,  “When  He  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.” 

God  is  always  reproducing  in  some  human  life  some 
lineament  of  the  Divine  Face,  and  when  all  the  lives  are 
knitted  into  one,  as  when  all  the  pictures  that  have  been 
projected  for  the  composite  photograph  on  the  sensitive 
plate,  have  been  printed  off,  the  resultant  face  shall  not  be 
yours  or  mine,  shall  not  be  of  one  communion  or  another, 
but  it  will  be  the  divine  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  you  shall 
catch  some  glimpse  of  it  out  of  the  work  of  these  commit¬ 
tees,  if  so  be  that  you  and  I  are  ready  for  it. 

MR.  CHAS.  M.  JESUP: 

Before  taking  up  the  subject  that  has  been  assigned  to 
me,  will  you  allow  me  a  few  moments  to  give  you  my  im- 

47 


pressions  from  a  business  man’s  standpoint  of  what  this 
Conference  might  be  to  the  City  of  New  York,  and  what  real 
significance  it  has.  None  of  us  can  take  up  the  daily  paper 
without  reading  in  some  of  its  columns  an  account  of  con¬ 
ventions  held  in  this  or  other  cities  for  specific  purposes. 
We  all  know  what  the  purpose  of  those  conventions  is — to 
bring  practical  business  men  together  to  discuss  ways  and 
means  for  the  further  and  successful  conduct  of  their  busi¬ 
ness,  to  find  out  practical  economies,  how  goods  can  be  pur¬ 
chased  at  a  cheaper  cost,  how  sales  can  be  increased.  And 
men  attending  those  conventions  leave  them,  almost  uni¬ 
formly,  with  an  idea  more  keenly  alive  in  their  minds  that 
there  is  progress  to  be  made  in  the  business  that  they  are 
following.  That  we  call  “applied  common  sense.”  Why 
should  not  we,  in  the  Church  of  God,  in  the  Conference  that 
is  to  be  held  here  this  spring,  apply  the  same  principles, 
only  calling  it  applied  Christian  common  sense?  New  York 
has  been  fitly  chosen  as  the  place  in  which  to  hold  that 
Conference.  It  is  the  metropolis  of  this  Western  Hemi¬ 
sphere.  It  is  the  gateway  of  the  world,  and ’receives  and 
sends  out  the  citizens  of  every  known  civilization.  New 
iork  is  the  proper  place  to  hold  the  Conference,  but  it  is 
going  to  be  one  of  the  hardest  places  to  give  it  the  proper 
start.  We  all  know  how  hard  it  is  sometimes  to  arouse  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  community  on  subjects  that  are  very  patent 
and  very  dear  to  us.  But  let  us  hope  and  pray  that  existing 
conditions  will  be  changed  and  there  shall  be  a  unanimous 
rally  of  God’s  people  in  this  city  which  shall  give  an  im¬ 
petus  to  the  whole  country. 

Now,  then,  as  a  business  proposition,  let  me  touch 
briefly  on  the  finances  of  this  Conference.  Forty  thousand 
dollars  will  be  needed  to  pay  its  expenses.  You  can  judge 
from  what  Mr.  Williams  has  said  of  the  complexity  of  the 
work  of  the  need  in  various  avenues  for  the  disbursement  of 
this  money.  Delegates  have  to  be  brought  from  all  over  the 
world.  They  are  to  be  treated  with  Christian  hospitality 
while  they  are  here.  We  would  not  have  it  otherwise.  We 
must  have  money  to  do  this  with,  and  it  is  a  foolish  propos¬ 
ition  for  a  man  to  tell  me  that  I  can  do  something  requir¬ 
ing  money  when  I  haven’t  it.  Now  that  is  the  position  of 
the  Finance  Committee  to-day.  Various  appeals  have  been 
sent  out.  If  I  am  correctly  informed,  only  about  $6,000  in 
cash  has  been  sent  in,  in  response  to  these  appeals;  $34,- 
000  is  needed.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  all  of  that 
sum  is  not  expected  from  New  York,  but,  friends,  New 
York  must  do  its  share,  and  in  the  light  of  its  position  to 
this  country  and  to  Europe,  we  cannot  stand  here  debased 
and  ridiculed  by  the  fact  that  we  are  doing  something  In 
which  we  have  no  heart.  May  the  pastors  of  the  churches 
represented  here,  and  all  Christian  people,  let  it  be  known, 
that  this  Conference  is  to  be  held,  and  to  be  held  in  the 
right  way  for  the  credit  of  the  city  and  the  Church.  Let  me 


say  that  this  Finance  Committee  was  organized  with  a  dis¬ 
tinct  policy.  The  business  of  the  Master  is  worth  doing 
well,  to  the  very  best  ability  of  the  members  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee.  Common-sense  principles  are  applicable  here.  No 
disbursements  without  absolute  funds  in  hand;  it  is  this 
position  which  the  Committee  has  taken,  honestly,  thought¬ 
fully,  deliberately  and  cautiously,  with  no  feeling  of  anxiety 
as  to  the  success  of  the  Ecumenical  Conference.  If  the 
Christian  people  of  this  city  would  realize  this  fact  I  think 
they  would  perhaps  be  more  willing  to  acknowledge  the 
necessity  for  action  on  the  part  of  the  Church  and  of  those 
who  profess  to  be  interested  in  this  great  cause.  So  as  a 
member  of  this  Committee  I  appeal  to  you  to  use  your 
individual  and  earnest  efforts  to  see  that  the  word  is 
sent  out  through  this  country  of  ours,  and  across  the  seas,  so 
that  when  the  call  for  help  comes  it  will  be  given  liberally, 
promptly,  with  an  open  hand  and  with  an  open  heart. 

HOSPITALITY. 

I>R,  ARTHUR  J.  BROWN: 

To  the  Committee  for  which  I  have  the  honor  to  speak 
has  been  assigned  the  privilege  of  representing  the  hospi¬ 
tality  of  New  York.  It  is  a  formidable  duty,  for  the  esti¬ 
mated  number  of  delegates,  exclusive  of  wives  and  visitors, 
is  about  2,000.  The  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  who  come 
from  the  United  States  and  Canada  will  be  expected  to 
pay  for  their  own  entertainment  and  our  responsibility  for 
them  will  cease  in  securing  reduced  rates  at  hotels  and 
boarding  houses,  and  assisting  them  so  far  as  we  may  be 
able  to,  in  finding  places  of  entertainment;  but  the  four 
hundred  or  more  delegates  from  abroad  ought  to  be  wel¬ 
comed  as  our  guests,  while  we  should  not  be  unmindful 
of  the  certain  attendance  of  foreign  missionaries.  They 
are  not  able  to  meet  the  charges  of  the  journey  to  New  York, 
and  yet  they  are  the  very  men  and  women  who  will  be 
deeply  interested  in  this  Conference,  whose  presence  will 
lend  to  it  value  and  dignity,  and  I  believe  in  the  spirit  of 
Mr.  Jesup,  who  has  just  referred  to  this  subject,  that  we 
ought  to  receive  with  large-hearted  hospitality  the  men 
who,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  who,  in  obedience 
to  the  command  of  God,  are  preaching  the  Gospel  in  dis- 
tant  lands. 

Now,  if  we  have  to  send  our  guests  to  hotels  and  board¬ 
ing  houses  and  pay  for  them,  you  will  at  once  see  that 
about  $15,000  will  be  required.  But  we  believe  that  many 
Christian  people  in  New  York  will  deem  it  a  privilege  to 
welcome  these  guests  to  their  homes,  and  that  others  who 
are  so  situated  that  they  cannot  do  this,  will  pay  for  the 
entertainment  of  guests  at  hotels.  We  are  prosecuting 
this  work  along  church  lines,  that  is  to  say,  we  ask  Epis^ 
copalians  to  entertain  Episcopalian  delegates,  Methodists 
to  entertain  Methodist  delegates,  and  so  on,  a  special  com- 

49 


mittee  having  charge  of  the  work  in  each  denomination 
in  co-operation  with  the  Women’s  Missionary  Societies.  In 
addition  to  this  work,  the  Hospitality  Committee  will  meet 
these  guests  at  the  trains  and  steamers,  will  assist  them  in 
finding  their  places  of  entertainment,  will  provide  at  the 
Hall  a  writing  and  reading  room,  besides  post  office  and 
telegraph  office,  stenographers  and  typewriters,  and  will 
also  have  charge  of  the  social  functions.  You  will  see, 
therefore,  that  very  large  responsibilities  have  been  as¬ 
signed  to  this  committee,  consisting  of  sixty-five  men, 
representing  all  the  leading  denominations  of  this  city,  and 
including  some  of  the  best  men  in  New  York. 

Now  a  great  deal  depends  upon  the  spirit  in  which  these 
delegates  are  received,  and  we  believe  that  the  very  title 
that  has  been  given  to  the  Committee  represents  that  spirit 
— Hospitality.  It  is  a  gracious  word.  It  means  literally, 
the  spirit  and  the  act  of  receiving  strangers  with  kindness 
and  consideration.  It  is  associated  with  some  of  the  most 
genial  words  in  our  language — host,  hostess,  hospitable. 
It  calls  up  memories  of  home,  of  cheerful  firesides,  of  tables 
laden  with  good  cheer,  of  large-hearted  welcome  to  the 
weary  and  perhaps  home-sick  guest.  What  a  delicate  aroma 
attaches  to  the  words  of  our  Lord,  “The  good  man  of  the 
house,”  for  you  remember  that  on  the  first  day  of  unleav¬ 
ened  bread  He  told  His  disciples  to  go  into  the  city  and 
follow  a  man  bearing  a  pitcher  of  water,  and  “wheresoever 
he  shall  go  in,  say  to  the  good  man  of  the  house,  Where  is 
the  guest  chamber  that  I  may  eat  the  Passover  with  my 
disciples?”  and  to-day,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  nineteen 
centuries,  men  of  different  speech  and  from  a  distant  land 
make  pilgrimages  to  the  house  in  which  that  guest  chamber 
was  supposed  to  be.  For  in  that  place  were  spoken  sweet 
words  which  will  ever  live  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  there 
the  Church  of  the  New  Covenant  was  born.  From  the  time 
when  Abraham  courteously  knelt  before  his  unknown 
guests  and  said,  “Rest  yourselves  under  the  trees,  and  I 
will  fetch  a  morsel  of  bread,  and  comfort  ye  your  hearts,” 
down  to  the  time  when  Gaius  ministered  to  the  Apostle 
John,  hospitality  is  described  in  the  Bible  as  a  Christian 
grace.  It  calls  out  all  that  is  best  in  a  man.  Its  basis  is 
a  spirit  of  brotherhood  with  all  those  who  know  and  love 
the  Lord  Christ,  and  the  rewards  of  the  grace  have  all  been 
rich.  Abraham  found  that  his  unknown  guest  was  none  other 
than  the  Angel  of  the  Lord.  How  beautiful  and  dignified 
the  benediction  which  the  aged  Paul  bestowed  upon  One- 
siphorus,  “The  Lord  give  mercy  unto  the  house  of  One- 
siphorus,  for  he  oft  refreshed  me,  and  was  not  ashamed 
of  my  chain.” 

John  Watson  happily  tells  us  that  certain  good  deeds 
have  their  reward  in  the  day  time,  others  have  theirs  at 
the  set  of  the  sun,  and  that  others  have  their  due  recom¬ 
pense  in  this  world  and  the  world  to  come.  To  this  twice- 

SO 


blessed  class  belongs  tbe  grace  of  hospitality.  In  certain 
bouses  from  January  to  December  no  fire  is  ever  made 
in  tbe  guest  chamber,  for  no  guest  ever  enters  the  threshold 
of  that  home.  Such  a  man  may  be  respectable,  but  he 
certainly  does  not  have  much  humanity,  and  it  is  certain 
that  he  and  his  family  will  suffer  loss,  for  the  coming  of  q. 
guest  into  a  home  revives  and  enriches  the  common  life. 
It  brings  inspiration  into  that  home,  and  a  guest  does 
not  utterly  depart  when  the  good-byes  are  said  at  the  outer 
gate.  Something  remains  behind,  an  effect  of  the  individu¬ 
ality  of  such  fragrance  as  when  sandal  wood  has  lain  on 
paper,  or  rosemary  among  clothes. 

And  now  the  Hospitality  Committee  wish  to  enter  upon 
this  work  in  this  spirit.  We  do  not  deem  it  an  irksome 
thing  that  we  must  find  entertainment  for  so  large  a  num¬ 
ber.  We  understand  that  peculiar  difficulties  are  unfolded 
in  attempting  to  provide  for  such  a  great  company  for 
the  week’s  stay  in  New  York,  but  we  are  not  disposed  to 
dwell  upon  those  difficulties.  We  believe  that  those  com¬ 
ing  to  this  Conference  are  the  Lord’s  chosen  saints  who 
have  been  called  by  Him  to  special  service,  men  and  women 
who  walk  with  God,  of  whom  we  shall  take  knowledge 
that  they  have  been  with  Jesus  Christ,  men  whose  lives 
are  controlled  from  a  far-off  center,  who  proclaim  the 
Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  the  world,  and  who 
stand  so  close  to  the  Divine  heart  that  they  catch  some¬ 
thing  of  His  spirit.  It  will  be  a  blessing  for  us  to  welcome 
these  people  into  our  homes,  and  when  they  go  hence,  may 
a  double  portion  of  their  spirit  remain  with  us. 

ECUMENICITY  AND  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

REV.  WILLIAM  R.  HUNTINGTON,  D.  D.: 

The  title  by  which  this  impending  Conference  is  to  be 
known  is  at  once  a  misnomer  and  an  inspiration. 

We  call  it  an  “Ecumenical”  Conference,  but  by  what 
right?  Surely  not  in  virtue  of  any  ecclesiastical  precedent, 
for  the  precedents  are  all  the  other  way,  and  yet  I  would 
not  change  the  title  if  I  could. 

It  is  true  “Ecumenical”  and  “Ecumenicity,”  the  adjec¬ 
tive  and  the  substantive,  are  not,  at  present,  words  to  con¬ 
jure  with.  They  have  a  decidely  un-American  look.  They 
do  not  readily  lend  themselves  to  oratorical  use.  Folk¬ 
lore,  the  folk-lore  of  our  race,  knows  them  not.  You  will 
not  find  them  in  Cruden’s  Concordance  nor  yet  in  the  con¬ 
cordances  of  Shakespeare  and  of  Tennyson.  Literally  they 
are  Greek  to  us.  Yet,  I  make  bold  to  say,  there  are  no 
words  more  essential  to  the  vocabulary  of  modern  thought, 
none  of  which  our  time  stands  in  greater  need. 

Solomon  in  the  Proverbs  speaks  of  Wisdom,  the  per¬ 
sonified  Wisdom,  as  rejoicing  in  the  habitable  part  of  God’s 
earth,  and  as  having  her  delights  with  the  sons  of  men. 

5i 


This  is  the  key  to  the  meaning  of  ecumenicity.  The  ecu- 
menicai  world  is  the  inhabited  world,  so  much  of  the 
planet’s  surface  as  has  been  taken  possession  of  by  man. 
Ihe  root  of  the  word,  if  you  will  not  scent  pedantry  in 
my  saying  so,  is  house.”  Blot  out  of  the  map  the  desert 
and  waste  places,  the  Arctic  and  Antarctic  Zones  and  what 
you  have  left  is  the  ecumenical  world.  Wherever  on  the 
surface  of  the  globe  there  are  those  who  “dwell,”  we  And 
that  of  which  ecumenicity  is  compelled  to  take  account. 
The  old  100th  is  the  Ecumenical  Psalm. 

But  ci\ilized  man  s  conception  of  the  round  world  at 
the  time  when  “ecumenical”  and  “ecumenicity”  first  found 
their  way  into  the  dictionary  of  the  Christian  Church  was 
something  very  different  from  ours.  The  basin  of  the 
Mediteri  anean  Sea,  with  the  outlying  regions  contiguous 
to  it,  made,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  “world”  of  the 
early  Christians.  They  dimly  dreamed  of  regions  beyond, 
but  it  was  only  dreaming.  Whatever  might  lie  west  of 
Spain  or  east  of  Persia,  was  practically  terra  incognita 
and  a  negligible  quantity.  Hence  it  came  about  in  the  early 
Church  that  when  a  council  that  should  represent  the  en¬ 
tire  Roman  Empire,  both  Eastern  and  Western,  was  to 
be  convened,  it  was  designated  an  “Ecumenical  Council.” 
There  were  lesser  councils  that  were  known  by  lesser 
names,  as,  for  example,  provincial  or  national  councils, 
as  the  case  might  be;  but  when  it  came  to  getting  at  the 
mind  of  the  whole  of  Christendom  nothing  short  of  an 
Ecumenical  or  General  Council  was  thought  adequate.  But 
we  are  not  here  to-night  to  study  the  history  of  the  Coun¬ 
cils,  neither  shall  I  dwell  upon  the  oft-told  and  tragic 
story  of  the  events  which  led  to  the  disruption  of  Christen¬ 
dom.  I  merely  desire  to  emphasize  the  point  that  it  was 
the  discovery  of  America  that  gave  the  death  blow  to  the 
old  notion  of  ecumenicity  and  changed  men’s  thought  of 
the  round  world  from  that  conception  of  roundness  of 
which  a  circle  is  the  symbol  to  that  grander  idea  which 
finds  embodiment  in  a  globe.  So  long  as  the  old  notion  of 
the  circle  held,  it  was  natural  enough  that  the  Church,  like 
the  Empire,  should  need  a  center.  Rome  was  indeed,  what 
an  English  school  teacher  has  lately  called  it,  in  the  title 
of  a  suggestive  little  book,  the  “Middle  of  the  World.”  But 
a  globe  has  no  middle  upon  its  surface,  and  therefore  no 
sooner  had  the  round  world  been  circumnavigated  and  its 
sphericity  proved  to  be  a  fact,  than  discerning  minds  saw 
that  what  had  satisfied  the  Church  of  the  Roman  Empire 
could  not  possibly  satisfy  the  Church  of  the  whole  earth. 

What  now  is  an  Ecumenical  Conference  on  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions?  It  is  a  reaching  after,  I  answer,  some  method  of 
concerted  action  in  such  an  attempt  to  Christianize  the  non- 
Christian  portion  of  the  inhabited  earth  as  shall  be  com¬ 
mensurate,  at  least  in  a  degree,  with  the  vastness  of  the 
undertaking  as  now  understood. 

52 


I  began  by  calling  the  title  of  our  proposed  gathering  a 
misnomer.  In  a  sense  it  certainly  is  that.  “What  sort  of  an 
Ecumenical  Conference,”  said  a  brother  clergyman  to  me 
the  other  day,  with  a  dash  of  bitterness,  if  not  of  scorn 
in  his  tone — ‘‘What  sort  of  an  Ecumenical  Conference  is 
that  in  which  two-thirds  of  the  Christian  world  will  be  un¬ 
represented?”  He  was  right  in  a  sense.  The  great  Latin 
Communion  carries  on  a  magnificent  missionary  work.  The 
Russo-Greek  Communion  is  Christianizing,  in  its  way,  por¬ 
tions  of  the  earth  to  which  neither  Rome  nor  Protestant 
Europe  nor  yet  Protestant  America  has  access;  and  we  have 
to  acknowledge  that  in  the  approaching  Conference  both 
Rome  and  Moscow  will  be  unrepresented.  And  yet  there 
is  a  valid  answer  to  my  friend’s  sneer.  If  what  we  are  pro¬ 
posing  to  hold  were  a  Council,  his  criticism  would  be  im¬ 
pregnable,  for  a  Council  assumes  power  of  legislation,  and 
undertakes  to  lay  down  the  law  for  the  region  which  its 
jurisdiction  is  supposed  to  cover.  But  a  Conference  is  not 
a  Council.  A  Conference  is  a  gathering  together  of  a  peo¬ 
ple  interested  in  a  common  object  who  desire  to  compare 
notes  as  to  the  best  means  of  attaining  that  object.  A 
Conference  binds  no  one,  but  if  successful  it  enlightens 
many.  Conferences  sometimes  lead  up  to  more  important 
things,  even  as  protocols  sometimes  lead  up  to  treaties. 
Moreover  this  Conference  is  called  Ecumenical,  not  because 
all  portions  of  the  Christian  Church  are  to  be  represented 
in  it  by  delegates,  but  because  the  plan  of  campaign  which 
it  proposes  covers  the  whole  area  of  the  inhabited  globe. 
There  is  no  portion  of  the  world’s  census  that  is  a  matter 
of  indifference  to  those  who  are  coming  to  this  Conference. 
Foreign  missions  are  understood  by  us  in  no  mere  national 
or  even  racial  sense.  For  Christian  people  the  only  for¬ 
eign  lands  properly  so  called  are  those  that  lie  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  Christendom.  All  within  those  boundaries 
are  or  ought  to  be  brethren.  “Why  is  it,”  asked  the  editor 
of  the  London  Spectator  the  other  day,  “why  is  it  that  we 
English  call  the  people  of  the  Continent  ‘Foreigners,’  but 
never  dream  of  calling  the  Americans  ‘Foreigners?’  ”  He 
found  his  answer  in  the  fact  of  the  greater  number  of  mem¬ 
ories  and  interests  that  Englishmen  and  Americans  have 
in  common  as  compared  with  Englishmen  and  Germans  or 
Englishmen  and  Frenchmen.  It  ought  to  be  so  with  Chris¬ 
tendom.  Those  who  are  coming  to  confer  with  us  are  not 
foreigners,  it  is  only  those  about  whose  welfare  we  are  to 
confer  who  are  the  foreigners.  Strangers  to  the  covenants  of 
promise,  they  are  foreigners  indeed.  This  is  what  I  meant  by 
saying  that  the  title  “Ecumenical  Conference,”  even  though 
a  misnomer  was  also  an  inspiration.  The  title  brings  out 
as  no  other  title  possibly  could  the  largeness  of  the  task 
which  the  Christian  Church  of  these  latter  days  is  propos¬ 
ing  to  itself.  For  the  first  time  we  are  beginning  to  do  full 
justice  to  the  visions  of  Isaiah  and  the  bold  foretellings  of 

53 


St.  Paul.  In  the  first  book  of  the  Bible  the  scattering  of 
the  nations  is  described,  in  the  last  book  of  the  Bible  the 
reassembly  is  portrayed.  Between  the  two  stand  the 
prophet  and  the  Apostle  with  their  predictions  as  to  the 
way  in  which  the  great  reconciliation  is  to  be  effected. 
Isaiah’s  thought  centers  in  Jerusalem  the  Holy  City.  He 
foresees  it  becoming  the  rallying  center  for  all  the  peoples. 
The  mountain  of  the  Lord’s  House  shall  be  exalted  above 
the  top  of  the  mountains,  he  avers,  and  all  nations  shall  flow 
into  it.  Israel  is  to  lose  its  isolation  and  aloofness,  and  is 
to  gather  about  itself  in  amicable  relationship  all  the 
families  of  the  earth.  But  all  this  is  vague,  shadowy,  of 
dim  outline  and  uncertain  perspective.  St.  Paul  gives  defi¬ 
niteness  to  it  by  adding  the. further  thought  that  Jesus 
Christ  the  Son  of  God  with  power  is  to  be  the  leader  in 
bringing  the  reconciliation  to  pass.  He  it  is  that  is  to 
break  down  the  division  wall  between  Jew  and  Gentile, 
native  and  out-lander,  and  to  make  all  one  in  the  great 
commonwealth  of  souls.  Take  the  two  together,  Isaiah  and 
St.  Paul,  and  we  have  materials  for  a  just  and  reasonable 
philosophy  of  history  such  as  can  nowhere  else  be  found. 
The  wonderful  thing  about  the  times  in  which  we  are  liv¬ 
ing  is  the  rapidity  of  movement  that  characterizes  them. 
Events  succeed  each  other  with  startling  swiftness.  Quick¬ 
ened  methods  of  locomotion,  quickened  methods  of  com¬ 
munication — these  are  “making  history”  at  a  pace  at  which 
history  was  never  made  before.  How  like  a  thunderbolt 
came  only  the  other  day  the  knell  of  China’s  national  life. 
How  like  a  cloud  the  ancient  prestige  of  Spain  vanished 
leaving  the  tradition  of  Latin  Christianity  weaker  than  be¬ 
fore,  and  by  so  much  hastening  the  advent  of  a  true  ecumen¬ 
icity  and  a  larger  conception  of  what  it  means  to  “believe 
in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  the  communion  of  saints.” 

Yes,  the  mills  of  God  seem  to  have  taken  on  an  accel¬ 
erated  movement,  there  are  apparently  more  revolutions 
to  the  minute  than  there  used  to  be,  many  more,  and  any 
Conference  that  comes  together  on  the  soil  of  this  new 
world  to  consult  concerning  Foreign  Missions  must  come 
prepared  to  take  the  quickened  pace  into  account  and  to 
plan  great  conquests  for  the  Christ,  yes  in  the  near  future 
— for  after  all  it  is  He  that  is  ruling  the  world,  He  who  un¬ 
seen  bears  the  government  upon  His  shoulder.  Prime  Min¬ 
isters  and  Chancellors,  Secretaries  of  State  and  War  come 
and  go,  “they  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be.”  But  the 
Church  has  never  passed  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence  in 
Jesus  Christ.  He  has  been  the  premier  from  the  beginning, 
and  will  be  to  the  end.  I  speak  in  this  vein,  Mr.  Chairman, 
because  of  my  conviction  that  only  by  lifting  the  whole 
subject  to  a  very  lofty  level  will  it  be  possible  to  arouse  the 
enthusiasm  which  the  necessities  of  this  local  movement 
demand.  Under  the  inspiring  and  ennobling  influence  of  a 
great  thought  men  and  woman  will  give  whatever  you  may 

54 


ask  of  them  either  in  money  or  in  effort,  but  they  must  be 
convinced  that  the  thought  is  truly  great.  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  have  only  to  be  understood  in  order  to  be  appreciated. 
The  popular  conception  of  them  is  narrow  and  provincial, 
that  is  the  trouble.  To  careless  observers,  and  most  observ¬ 
ers  are  careless,  the  Christian  Church  seems  only  to  be 
chipping  away  at  the  surface  of  its  great  task.  They  com¬ 
pare  the  statistics  of  missions  with  the  statistics  of  com¬ 
merce  or  with  the  statistics  of  emigration,  or  it  may  be 
with  the  statistics  of  war,  and  from  the  disparity  which 
they  notice  they  draw  the  hasty  inference  that  missionary 
activity,  as  compared  with  the  activity  manifested  in  these 
other  fields  is  a  thing  of  small  account.  What  they  need 
is  to  have  their  eyes  called  off  from  the  pettiness  of  the 
means  at  our  disposal  to  the  grandeur  of  the  achievement 
at  which  we  aim.  The  greatest  of  all  victories  have  been 
those  in  which  the  odds  have  been  against  the  victois  at 
the  start,  but  where  the  inspiration  of  a  splendid  purpose 
sufficed  to  the  carrying  of  the  day.  Again  I  say  let  us  keep 
before  men’s  minds  the  grandeur  of  this  ecumenical  idea, 
it  is  God’s  thought  for  man.  From  the  commercial  point  of 
view,  it  would  be  an  immense  step  forward  if  all  the  world 
could  have  a  single  language  and  one  uniform  system  of 
coinage;  but  only  think  what  it  would  mean  for  all  man¬ 
kind  to  unite  in  speaking  the  wholesome  words  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  in  accepting  his  mint-mark  as  the  test 
and  measure  of  all  spiritual  values.  That  would  mean  a 
world  worth  living  in  indeed,  a  world  from  which  harem  and 
slave-market  and  idol-temple  and  all  the  habitations  of 
cruelty  would  have  disappeared  and  in  which  homes, 
schools  of  good  learning,  and  sanctuaries  of  a  pure  wor¬ 
ship  would  have  come  to  stay. 

Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  region  of  present-day  politics  I 
have  the  misfortune  to  differ  from  most  of  my  neighbors 
in  being  an  anti-expansionist  and  an  anti-imperialist;  but  I 
hold  that  in  the  politics  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  every 
good  Christian  is  in  virtue  of  his  name  and  calling  bound 
to  be  both  an  expansionist  and  an  imperialist.  In  the 
work  of  pushing  outward  the  frontier  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Light,  there  should  be  no  let-up  for  a  moment.  There  are 
no  divisional  lines  which  it  were  trespass  to  cross  in  that 
field  which  is  the  world.  The  Church  must  expand  and 
expand  and  expand  until  we  reach  a  genuine  as  contrasted 
with  a  theoretical  ecumenicity,  a  Holy  Catholic  Church 
centered  not  at  Rome,  as  the  Latins  would  have  it,  nor  yet 
at  Jerusalem,  as  the  Zionists  would  have  it,  nor  yet  at 
Canterbury  with  the  Anglicans,  nor  yet  at  Geneva  with  the 
Puritans,  but  in  the  throne-room  of  that  strong  Son  of 
God  who  sits  with  the  globe  in  his  right  hand  and  on  the 
globe  a  cross.  If  so  to  think  is  to  write  one’s  self  down  an 
imperialist,  why  then  an  imperialist  I  am. 

v  55 


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